


The heart wants (Rapunzel)

by game_of_ships



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Cassunzel or New Dream?, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Holy shit I just made a commitment didn’t I, Hurt/Comfort, Pining, Romance, Sexual Tension, how about both
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:20:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 32,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23178361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/game_of_ships/pseuds/game_of_ships
Summary: ’It was just Cassandra's damn luck that those eyes would still render her helpless.’*****Four years after the battle with Zhan Tiri, Cassandra decides to return to Corona; but upon her arrival, she realizes there are some things about Rapunzel a few years on the road won’t simply shake.Her increasing attraction for her would be a fine example.
Relationships: Cassandra/Rapunzel (Disney: Tangled), Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider/Rapunzel
Comments: 84
Kudos: 433





	1. Prologue

It was a rainy Sunday morning in Vardaros, and Cassandra rose with its first light. She stretched out on the uncomfortable hay-mattress and turned her head towards the window where the light seeped through the curtains. Five years ago, sleeping on rough surfaces would have left her in quite the mood due to sleep-deprivation, along with an ache most everywhere, what with Cassandra having slept in a castle almost her entire life. However, after nearly a year on the road in search for the black rocks’ origin, followed by four years of travelling on her own after the whole moonstone-incident, Cassandra had grown quite used to scratchy beds and ill-kept inns. In fact, a scratchy bed was a privilege out there – most nights she slept outside on a cold rock or in the damp grass, since she had never really stayed at one place during her travels.

Not that she ever complained – her father had raised her to be tough and persistent. A few nights in the wilderness all on her own were child’s play by now, and along with those cold nights came a whole new sense of freedom and life, and for the first time in her life she got to choose what to make of it. It had been everything Cassandra had hoped it would be. The only thing missing were people to share it with.

Although Cass wouldn’t admit it out loud, travelling alone for all these years had taken its toll. She missed her friends, her father, the people of Corona. She missed Rapunzel. Sure, she’d always enjoyed her privacy, but after four years of travelling alone she wouldn’t mind a few dozen sleepovers with Rapunzel – she was even prepared to let Eugene in on them.

Except for that detail, freedom had been everything she dreamed it would be. Besides, on the road Cassandra did sometimes find ways to comfort her loneliness – and in some ways, temporary comfort was easier. Cassandra never looked for sympathy, love or even a friend in the women she spent a night or two with - and neither did they. That freedom from responsibilities was just what Cassandra needed after all that had happened.

Cassandra rose from the bed and rubbed the last traces of sleep from her eyes. She stepped over to the window and looked out on Vardaros. What was once a crumbling, criminal hotspot had now turned into the bustling city it once was in its glory days. Cass smiled fondly at the thought that this change wouldn’t have been possible without Rapunzel’s never-wavering faith in this town and its people.

Cassandra shook the brunette from her thoughts and swiftly got dressed for the day. She gathered her things, payed the innkeeper and wandered out in the streets. The rainy mud stained her boots the minute she stepped out the door, but Cassandra payed it no mind. In the distance, she spotted Vex going through her usual morning-patrol. She quirked a small smile and ventured over to her.

“Morning Vex. You see any trouble lately?”

Vex turned at the sound of her voice, almost coming face to face with Cassandra with her newfound height. Vex had grown into quite the young woman since the last time Cass had seen her all those years ago. Still being the right hand of the aging Captain Quaid, she was next in line for the title. She’d developed the qualities necessary for being Quaid’s successor – moral, a sense of justice and a serious set of fighting skills.

Upon returning to Vardaros a few weeks ago, Cassandra’s heart had swelled with pride at Vex’s accomplishments – she saw a great deal of herself in her at that age. Only, Vex didn’t have to constantly prove herself in the eyes of the public to become worthy of the esteemed title of Captain, such as Cassandra had tried, and ultimately failed, to do. In that sense, Cassandra supposed Vex was even better than she ever was.

Vex smirked confidently upon hearing her offer, “If there was, you’d be in good hands,” Vex’s sharp gaze caught onto something behind Cassandra, and before she could properly react Vex had drawn her sword and lashed it out. Cassandra whipped her head around and found Vex’s sword imbedded in a stolen apple - the thief who’d run with it a second ago was standing beside her with his hands in the air, the shock of Vex’s reflexes leaving him frozen to the spot.

Vex swiftly stepped around Cassandra and caught the thief’s hands behind his back with her free hand and pointed the sword towards her, offering her the apple, “I’m on it, and I don’t need any help.”

Cassandra chuckled and plucked the apple from the sword, examining it with a wary eye, “Should I be worried that this apple has traces of… human?”

Vex sheathed her sword and shrugged, “Don’t worry, I wipe that sword every night. It should be clean enough.”

Cassandra blinked and looked down at the apple. Ultimately, she decided her hunger was stronger than sanitary precautions and bit into the hollow apple. She followed closely behind Vex, who was bringing the thief to the dungeons. His arms were still tightly woven behind his back, now with a rope keeping them in place. Vex turned her gaze towards her, but kept her head straight forward, “So, how are you finding Vardaros so far? Five years in-between visits will give you quite the different picture of this place – especially these past five years, since Blondie and crew swept through.”

Cassandra looked the other way to hide her smile, “Yeah, Rapunzel will do that to you.” They passed the market-place, and Cassandra took notice of the life and commotion coming off from it, “Well, Vex. The people seem safe and happy again around here. It really helps bring back Vardaros’ old reputation, and I can’t help but agree,” she looked to Vex and gave her an approving nod, “This really is an amazing city”.

Although Vex tried to hide it, her pride was obvious in the way her eyes lit up. She turned her head forward as they reached the dungeons and started to descend the stone-staircase, “So, have you decided when to return to Corona yet?”

Cass suddenly slowed in her tracks and looked at her feet, having hoped that question wouldn’t come up today either, “Soon enough.”

Vex looked back at Cass, her grip on the thief never wavering, “You know, the more you repeat that, the longer you’ll stay here,” she looks forward again to avoid tripping on a step, and because neither of them enjoy eye-contact. “Look, I know what this is about. You did horrible things to Corona and you’re not sure you’re ready to face the people yet. But trust me, avoiding the problem will only make it harder to deal with when the time does come. I suggest you get moving soon enough before you just give up completely and never set foot there again.”

Cassandra frowned at the images of green, trusting eyes that suddenly filled her head, “It’s not the people I’m worried about,” she returned her gaze to Vex and nodded, “but you’re right, it’s time I went back. I’ll ride today before I get another chance to chicken out.”

Vex smirked as she shoved the thief into an empty dungeon with more force than necessary. She then turned to Cassandra and nodded.

Cassandra tilted her head, “Is that really necessary for an apple-thief? Don’t you need the dungeons for the real bad guys?”

Vex looked to the – by now terrified – thief and smiled in melancholy, “They seem to have left Vardaros for good. This is all the action I get nowadays, so I make the most of it.”

“Well then, that apple-thief has one horrifying day of torture and interrogation ahead of him.”

Vex cracked her knuckles happily and sniffled, “He sure does.”

Cassandra tried to hide her laughter at the sight and turned to the staircase, “Well, I’m going to saddle up Fidella and then I’ll be on my way. Thanks for your advice Vex.”

“Anytime. And hey, Cass!” Cassandra stopped in her tracks and turned her head back towards Vex, who wore a teasing grin. She winked, “Say hi to Rapunzel from me.”

Cassandra narrowed her eyes and turned on her heel, marching away before Vex could catch her reddening face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first fic I’m writing in ages lol, be patient thanks ~


	2. Green eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassandra comes home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I listened to instrumental piano and pretty movie-soundtracks when writing this. Big recommend when reading it too.

”Alright Fidella, how about we stop and make camp here for the night?”

Fidella neighed in approval as Cassandra hopped off of her. She sighed deeply and rolled her shoulders, exhausted from another day of nothing but riding. She felt slightly bad for pushing Fidella so hard, but she knew the loyal horse could take it. She looked off in the distance where the kingdom of Corona could be spotted just on the horizon. She couldn’t believe how close she suddenly was to it all – the longing almost threw her off. All Cassandra wanted now was to come home to it. She was so close. But she wasn’t ready just yet, not now when she suddenly stood on the finish line, it was all too much.

She took her bag off of Fidella and poured out what few belongings she had in it on the ground. A sleeping bag, a knife, some matches (Cassandra’s bruised fingers thanked the gods for that new invention) and a few apples she’d picked throughout the day. She spread out the sleeping bag on a particularly soft spot on the grass, and then got up to Fidella and gave her four of the five apples.

“You did a good job today girl, thank you.”

Cassandra patted her on the neck gently and watched with a soft smile as the horse happily finished off the apples, before she settled on a stump and bit into the last apple herself. She’d almost finished it when a hoot came from the sky and she looked up to see Owl flying towards her. Cassandra held out her free arm for him to settle on.

“You got any news for me?”

Owl hooted and Cassandra’s eyes widened. She made a disgusted sound and spit out the apple-bite she’d been chewing on. “I did not need to know that.” She shuddered to herself for another second, and then took her last bite of the apple. “Were you in town too?” Another hoot.

Cassandra turned the remains of the apple around in her hand for a few seconds, seemingly disinterested in every sense of the word; but her flickering eyes gave it away. “… Did you see her?”

Cassandra could swear that Owl actually _rolled_ his eyes before he hooted in confirmation. Cassandra rose and threw the apple into the forest, scolding herself for her inability to keep eye-contact even with an _owl_ while talking about Rapunzel. She began gathering sticks and dry moss to build a small fire, speaking up once again. “Was she happy?”

Owl once again hooted in confirmation. Cassandra smiled at that and picked up a particularly interesting stick, twirling it between her fingers. “She would be, huh?” Flashes of the princess’ twinkling eyes filled Cassandra’s head, overwhelming her with emotions she’d hoped would subside with the years. But now she was suddenly so close to it all she could almost reach out for it, and Cassandra’s chest contracted uncomfortably. She shook herself from her stupor and her fingers stilled around the stick. Her smile had fallen from her face and was now replaced with a guilt-ridden frown as she returned to her sleeping bag.

She quietly piled the sticks on a rock beside it, poking them around for no real reason for a while. Then her voice came up, low and guarded at first; then increasingly more pained. “Maybe she’s the happiest she’s ever been. Maybe she’s started a family and a whole new chapter where I just don’t fit anymore.” Cassandra felt her heart beat faster and her breath shorten just a tad, “What if she never expects me to come back at all?”

Owl hooted angrily at her, and she could even hear Fidella neigh and stomp her hooves in annoyance. Cassandra abruptly turned towards them, wide eyes searching and chest close to heaving. “Oh don’t tell me it’s not true! It’s been _four_ years since I was home! Rapunzel and I hadn’t even known each other for that long when I left her! She’s probably closer to her new handmaiden than she ever was with me and whoever that is _surely_ never betrayed her the same way I did! Any sane person would take one look at Rapunzel and know c _rystal_ clear that she deserves a million times better than what I did to her and she has those people all around her!”

Cassandra turned around again and tried to light a match with a lot more force than necessary. Her fingers bruised.

“I _shouldn’t_ be a part of Rapunzel’s life anymore. I should be locked up.” She spat out, but there was no edge to her voice; only defeat.

At last the match caught fire, and she tossed it harshly into the pile and watched the flames rise. Her chest rose and fell almost in sync with the intense crackling of the fire and her lips were pressed tightly together.

Once the fire was going, she just sat and stared at it for a while. The flames were calming, and eventually they helped slow her breathing. She looked down at her hands laying in her lap, specifically her right hand. The hand that Rapunzel had accidentally burnt all those years ago.

But also the hand that Rapunzel had healed in the final battle with Zhan Tiri – along with saving Cassandra’s life. Rapunzel had forgiven her for everything, even though she’d never be even close to deserve it.

Cassandra smiled fondly as the wave of nostalgia hit her. She thought back to the moments they shared before the moonstone-incident. Carefree days spent in the kingdom and on the road, when they hadn’t yet realized they were going on borrowed time. Cassandra remembered every day, and suddenly her senses were overwhelmed with warmth and light and an unquenchable _longing_. For a moment, she wondered why she ever left in the first place.

She looked up from her lap and furrowed her brows in determination. Then she shot up from where she was sitting and clenched her fists. She shouldn’t come back into Rapunzel’s life – but she really wanted to.

Suddenly, the end of the world seemed to be around the corner and Cassandra rushed to kick the fire out with her boot, then she quickly stuffed her things back in the bag and turned away from the makeshift-camping spot. 

She surged towards Fidella as if she would run away at any second and swiftly took a hold of Fidella’s head and stroked her nose with affection, but impatience. The horse, obviously having not heard Cassandra’s internal conflict, seemed confused by this, but remained calm – she knew her owner’s actions could be hard to understand sometimes (all the time). Cassandra looked into her eyes, her voice breathless in anticipation, “You think you can run for just a little longer tonight girl?”

|||

The bridge to the island was empty when Cassandra reached it – most certainly due to the late hour. She pulled her dark hood up - she didn’t want anyone in town to recognize her just yet – and slowed Fidella down so to not raise suspicion as they rode across the bridge.

She almost laughed in joy when they passed through the archway at the end of it and the realization settled in – she was home.

Not really able to control herself despite her previous effort, she urged Fidella to go just a little faster than necessary in order to reach the castle as quickly as possible. She rode through the familiar streets faster and faster, passing Monty and Attila’s sweet shop as well as Xavier’s forge. It must have been later than she thought, because not a single soul was out. She just hoped this didn’t mean Rapunzel had already gone to sleep.

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she hadn’t noticed just how fast she’d urged Fidella to run, and didn’t realize that their sprint would soon be interrupted by a big statue standing in the middle of the road. Cassandra turned her head at the last second and let out a surprised cry-- then she yanked on Fidella’s reins for dear life. Fidella abruptly skidded to a halt – causing Cassandra to fly off of her and smash right into the ground in front of the statue.

Cassandra gasped at the pain that shot down to her right wrist – the one she’d used to break the fall. With a good amount of willpower, she managed to ignore it in favor of glancing around to see how far she was from the castle. In an unusual stroke of luck, she found that she was just outside the castle walls. In her usual stroke of _bad_ luck however, this meant that she drew the unwanted attention of the guards standing outside of said walls.

“Hey! Who are you?” one of them shouted and started running towards her. Casting one last annoyed glance at the statue that _certainly_ hadn’t been there when she left Corona four years ago, Cassandra momentarily forgot about the guard as she did a double-take. The statue pictured Rapunzel and Eugene at their wedding, looking at each other as if the other’s eyes held the world’s secrets. Cassandra blinked at it, and then cold sorrow washed over her as she took it in for reasons she almost certainly knew, but promptly decided to push to the back of her head and keep them there until she was dead.

In the next second she was yanked to her feet – luckily by her left arm – by an unknown guard. Cassandra squinted at him from beneath her hood, but she was certain she had never seen him before.

“Why are you approaching the castle in such a hurry at this hour, punk? I thought not even criminals could be so stupid as to attack the main gate.” He said in a gruff, condescending voice.

Cassandra almost laughed at his attempt to trash-talk, but quickly remembered herself -- this man had never seen her before, meaning he had no idea who she was.

“I’m not looking for trouble and I’m _not_ a criminal,” _anymore._ “I’m here to see the princess.”

The guard’s eyes flashed and he pressed his spear dangerously close to her throat with his free hand, “What could you possibly want from the princess this late at night?”

_Do you want the appropriate answer or the real one?_

Cassandra bit her tongue and stubbornly shoved her remark to the _back_ of her head, thank you. She levelled him with a glare, “Look, I’m an old friend. I know I come at a late hour but I’ve been travelling all day, will you please just let me speak to someone who can take me to her?”

The guard looked her up and down, and then he sneered at her and nodded his head towards the bridge, “I wouldn’t trust you as far as I could throw you, thug. Now get out of here before I lose my patience.”

Cassandra closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She really didn’t have the energy to deal with this kind of guard right now – not when she was so close to her goal. She glanced down at her left arm, which was still grasped tightly in his hand. Looking up, she nodded at him indifferently, “I understand you’re only trying to do your job, sir. But if you’ll excuse me, I’m on a much more important mission.” in a motion quicker than the guard’s reflexes will ever be, Cassandra twisted her torso along with her left arm out of his grasp and made a move with her right hand to push him away far enough for her to make a run for it. But as her right hand connected with his chest, the forgotten pain returned tenfold and paralyzed her for just a split-second too long. Cassandra hissed and instinctively cradled it, cursing her bad luck.

The guard quickly collected himself and sneered at her. He twisted her left hand behind her back while grabbing a hold of her right arm and pinning it to her body.

“That was a bad choice, kid.”

|||

Cassandra muttered to herself as the guard and another guard he picked up along the way dragged her through the castle. This was all humiliating – in all but the five minutes she’d been back in the castle she’d been bested by a stuck-up guard, dragged across the hallways like some lowlife thief and she was 95 percent positive her wrist was broken.

Not exactly how she’d imagined her first night back in Corona to play out.

Cassandra trashed and writhed violently in the guard’s grasp and whipped her head towards them.

“I can walk perfectly fine on my own, you know.” The guard snorted, unamused, and squeezed her right arm hard to show that he wasn’t loosening up even an inch. The grip was hard enough for Cassandra’s vision to blur, and yes, she was sure – that was a broken wrist. Gritting her teeth, she mumbled through the pain, “Will you at least tell me what the time is?”

The other guard, who hadn’t said anything up until now, cleared his throat. Cassandra examined him from the corner of her eye when he spoke up, his face just as unfamiliar as the former. However, this one looked particularly weaker.

“It’s a quarter to eleven. Now shut up and stop trying to break free.”

Satisfied with that answer, Cassandra nodded and turned her head forwards again, relaxing her body for the time being. The more she tried to escape, the harder he was going to hold on. She started raking her brain for ideas of how to escape from the guards; clearly they wouldn’t deliver the message to the princess anytime soon that she was here. They might not even bother the king with someone they deemed so useless. She pursed her lips and looked to the floor. She wasn’t worried, per say – she’d gotten out of _way_ worse situations than this. The thing is, her patience had run out -- she didn’t want to wait any longer. Cassandra was just awfully tired of waiting.

As they passed the throne room on their way to the dungeons, Cassandra’s ears perked up as they caught onto voices coming from inside. As she strained them and listened as hard as she could, she caught one of the silent voices – one she hadn’t heard in years, but an oh-so familiar one. God she had missed that voice, and suddenly hearing it again was almost enough for her to cry – _almost_.

Rapunzel.

The guards hadn’t seemed to hear it, and so Cassandra had the element of surprise on her side. Only one solid idea came to mind in that moment and it was _so_ stupid but really, it was all she had. Cassandra slammed her eyes shut tightly, preparing herself for the incoming pain.

Then, she stopped dead in her tracks and the guard holding her crashed into her hard. When he did, Cassandra wrenched her broken wrist from his grip, biting her lip to keep herself from crying out in agony. In a swift motion, she spun around in his hold and tore her other hand loose from his grip, and then she rammed her forehead into his with all the force she could muster. The force of the blow sent him crashing to the ground, and before the other guard could react properly she’d taken off towards the door, cradling her broken wrist in her left hand. Cassandra ran as fast as she could, keeping her eyes on the throne room-door and telling herself to not look back.

She could hear, almost _feel_ the guard’s presence right on her heels, and she knew he was alarmingly close. Not wasting another second when she reached the door, Cassandra threw herself at it and connected it with her left shoulder just as the guard’s fingers ghosted across her tunic.

The door, which had only stood slightly ajar, crashed open and Cassandra didn’t quite manage to regain her balance before her shoulder collided with the stone floor, and she grunted loudly at the impact. The guard, who hadn’t been able to stop either, tripped over her and crashed into a pile beside her.

And then suddenly, the room fell completely silent.

Seconds went by as Cassandra simply lay there in the silence, catching her breath. Her lips parted as she panted in exhaustion, and her gaze firmly fixed on the floor, and for the time being she refused to move it – she refused to move a muscle. She didn’t dare to look up.

Another eternity went by before she slowly released her wrist in order to lean up on her left elbow. She braced herself, took a deep breath; and looked up.

The first thing she noticed was that the throne room was covered from ceiling to floor in birthday-decorations – brightly colored balloons, confetti, streamers and flags filled every last corner. Above the king and queen’s thrones hung a great, yellow banner that read ‘ _Happy 30 th birthday Eugene!’ _in purple, cursive letters.

The first thought that came to Cassandra’s mind was _victory;_ she’d possibly crashed yet another one of Fitzherbert’s birthdays.

“Cassandra…?”

Then, her eyes landed on Rapunzel standing in the middle of the room, and that thought flew out the window, forever forgotten in favor of those impossibly green eyes.

Huge, green eyes. Familiar eyes. Rapunzel’s eyes. It was just Cassandra’s damn luck that those eyes would still render her helpless.

Cassandra’s face lit up, and she breathed out a laugh, “Hey Raps.”

The last thing she caught on Rapunzel’s face were _those_ eyes tearing up, and then she was there; on the floor beside her (no, more like _on_ her), crushing her.

Only Cassandra’s quick reflexes saved her broken wrist from more trauma, and she held it high in the air above them as she looked down at Rapunzel’s face buried in her chest, and suddenly she was feeling light-headed.

Then, a teary smile came to her face and she choked on her next laugh. With her other arm, she buried her fingers deep in Rapunzel’s hair, and then she buried her face even deeper in it, squeezing her eyes shut and inhaling her scent until she'd completely run out of air.

And then she did it again.


	3. Patching up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rapunzel fixes Cassandra's arm.

After Rapunzel’s initial shock had died down and her tears finally stopped, Cassandra stood - and in her joyous state, offered her right hand. As Rapunzel took it, Cassandra’s eyes bulged from her head and she choked on the air.

“Ffff-...” shocks of pain pulsed through her lower arm as the adrenaline from the chase dissipated, and she grit her teeth to keep the curse from falling off her tongue. In an instant Rapunzel was on her feet beside her, hands frantically clutching at the air around Cassandra’s wrist.

“Cassandra, what did you do??”

Cassandra jumped at Rapunzel’s sudden proximity and instinctively jerked her hand away, cradling it to her chest – and then instantly regretted it. Rapunzel’s eyes widened, blinking at her. She looked confused, but mostly hurt by Cassandra’s knee-jerk reaction -- to recoil from her. Cassandra’s stomach turned.

As if nothing had changed.

“No, no Raps-“Cassandra flew forward and grabbed her hand, squeezing it tightly between them, because _everything_ had changed. Rapunzel didn’t react, her lips pressed together in a thin line and her eyes blankly turned to the floor. Cassandra bent her head and searched for them, shaking their joined hands gently to get her to look up. “Rapunzel, I shouldn’t have done that, I know. I’m sorry.”

After a second, Rapunzel’s eyes flickered back up to hers and Cassandra was silent for just a second too long as she held them in her own because _those eyes could kill_. Then, she squeezed her hand again and gave her a soft, reassuring smile. “I’ll work on it.”

As Cassandra waited for her to reply, she couldn’t help but notice that _Rapunzel_ was silent for just a second too long as well. As if _something_ had changed.

Then, that second was gone. Rapunzel’s face broke into a large smile, and she squeezed Cassandra’s hand in return. “Thank you, Cass. I’m sorry too.”

Her old nickname rang pleasantly in her ears, and Cassandra’s chest swelled with emotion at the sound. She bent her head to conceal it and instead focused her right wrist. She brought it up between them and tried in vain to flex the useless fingers, wincing as she did. Keeping her eyes glued on the arm, she spoke up in a dismissive tone.

“I fell of Fidella when I got here. It’s broken, and those guards certainly didn’t kiss it better.”

Rapunzel glanced to the side where the guard who tripped on Cassandra had gotten up, cautiously eyeing their exchange. The other guard had collected himself as well and - after initially barging in to save the princess – was now positioned at the door after sheepishly finding out he was wrong about Cassandra. They both looked worried, probably – definitely – worried about themselves, since the person they treated so badly turned out to be someone indeed very close to the princess. 

But Rapunzel simply raised her hand and shook her head gently, “It’s okay, you were only trying to protect me. You may return to your positions.” The guards’ shoulders visibly relaxed, but only for a second before they tensed professionally again, ready to continue their shift.

They gave a nod and spoke in unison, “My princess.” Rapunzel gracefully nodded back, and then they left the room.

Rapunzel turned back to Cassandra and placed her free hand on her shoulder, gesturing to her arm. She smiled carefully and spoke in that caring voice only she could do, “Let me take a look at that.”

|||

Cassandra hissed and tucked her chin against her chest in agony as Rapunzel squeezed and thumbed her way down her injured arm, “You know, there are professionals for that.”

They had made their way up to Cassandra’s old room from her days as Rapunzel’s lady-in-waiting. It was fully restored to its former state after the damage she did to it the last time she was in there. Cassandra wanted to believe Rapunzel had personally seen to it that it was fixed, but it was probably just restored with the rest of the castle without the princess having a part in it.

Rapunzel looked up at her from her stool beside the bed and cringed at Cassandra’s reaction. “I’m sorry!” She returned her focus to her arm and squeezed more carefully this time, searching for any trace of a broken bone. “Cass, it’s late in the evening, there won’t be any doctors awake. But don’t worry, I’ve taken some medical classes, I can handle this.”

Cassandra lifted her head and looked at Rapunzel, amusement bubbling up inside her despite the ever-present pain. Rapunzel was completely submerged in the task at hand, her brows furrowed and teeth sunken into her lower-lip. Cassandra’s eyes roamed her face, a pleasant hum vibrating in her chest. She found herself touched by Rapunzel’s logic – she knew just as well as Rapunzel did that getting a doctor here would, in fact, be easy for the royal family, no matter what time of day.

Rapunzel did this because she wanted to, and that fact warmed Cassandra’s chest in a way nothing else but Rapunzel could. She shook her head to physically try and get rid of the feeling – first off; it was dangerous. Second; it was too soft for her.

Instead, she focused on Rapunzel’s previous statement about it being late. “What were you doing planning Eugene’s party so late anyway?”

Rapunzel briefly abandoned her task in favor of the conversation, sighing tiredly. “I _was_ finished with all the planning, but then Eugene had the _audacity_ to demand one of those tacky swans he always wanted! He said if he couldn’t have them at our wedding, at least he’d get to have them at this ‘day of dread’ as a consolation.” Despite her obvious annoyance at Eugene’s childish behavior, Rapunzel smiled fondly. “Then again, he _does_ hate his birthdays, and he really _has_ been dreading his 30th, so it’s the least I could do for him. Anyway, I spent all day waiting for the delivery and I wanted to receive it personally.”

Cassandra cackled in glee, wiping a fake-tear from her eye, “You hate those swans.”

Rapunzel’s eyes widened and she straightened her back, stomping her feet on the floor, “I do!” then she slumped back into her seat, chuckling despite her best effort and buried her face in her free hand, “I _really_ do.”

Cassandra calmed down as well, shaking her head. “It’s good to hear that moron hasn’t matured a day since I left. Does he still sleep with that ridiculous mask even though you’re married?”

Rapunzel mentally took notes; approximately _fifteen_ minutes went by before Cassandra insulted Eugene. Now that was actually close to a record. She flicked the lock on Cassandra’s forehead and fixed her with a (failed) stern look, “Break-time’s over, now sit still.”

Cassandra snickered and leaned back on the bed, “Fair enough.”

As a comfortable silence settled upon the room, Cassandra glanced around in it. Despite being 29 years old, this was the only room she’d ever remembered calling her own. True, it was designated to the princess’ lady-in-waiting, but since Rapunzel had been absent for her first 18 years this room simply never served its purpose, so Cassandra received it when she first got here. Only now did she realize, this is the closest she got to a consistent home – a place she could call just her own. That thought comforted her in a way.

Cassandra ran her hand along the linens, realizing she hadn’t just missed how comfortable the bed was, but also _which_ bed it was. Hers. Only now, it was someone else’s.

The realization brought a thought to her mind she couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of sooner. “Isn’t this supposed to be the lady-in-waiting’s room? Where is she?”

Rapunzel only paid minimal attention to Cassandra’s question, once again entirely engrossed in the supposed fracture. She answered in a distracted tone, “Angelica doesn’t live here. This is your room.”

Rapunzel’s words sent a surprised pang of emotion into Cassandra’s chest. She had no idea who this Angelica was, but based on Rapunzel’s response she wasn’t that worried about her taking Cassandra’s place like she’d feared.

Cassandra looked at her seemingly untouched armoire in the back of the room with pride; so no one had lived here for four years then. Because Rapunzel wouldn’t allow it. Because it was Cassandra’s room. She tried and failed miserably to hold back a smile.

“So, how is your new lady-in-waiting then? Where does she live?” Rapunzel merely tilted her head in acknowledgement, otherwise remaining just as focused on her task.

“She’s nice. A classic lady-in-waiting, I guess; proper, respectful, calm. I tried sparring with her once and she didn’t really like that. She lives a little further down the hall.”

A shameless pride took over Cassandra’s face upon hearing Rapunzel speaking so indifferently about Angelica. Despite never liking the job, she knew she’d never want anyone to do it the way she had done it; because that was the way Rapunzel loved it.

Eventually Rapunzel sat back and hummed to herself, tapping her index-finger against her lips. Cassandra’s eyes followed the motion helplessly, like a moth drawn to a flame.

Rapunzel then grabbed the bag they’d picked up from the infirmary and fished out two long, flat pieces of wood along with bandages, speaking as she went to untangle the fabric, “I’m afraid you’re right, Cass. It’s a broken wrist.”

Cassandra snorted and quirked her brow, hand remaining in Rapunzel’s lap. “I could have told you that without an examination.”

Rapunzel squinted her eyes in annoyance, but her lips betrayed her when their corners turned upwards. “You know, a patient isn’t usually this snarky with their doctor.”

Cassandra fixed Rapunzel with a challenging smirk, leaning forward, “The doctor isn’t usually this slow to state the obvious.”

Rapunzel leaned in further as well, “I’d rather be careful when it comes to a patient’s well-being.”

“Oh believe me doctor, my well-being isn’t that important to me.”

“It sounds like you need me more than ever, then.”

“Maybe I do.”

“Well then, a word of advice from your doctor is to from now on be more careful with your well-being. In turn, I won’t have to state the obvious. Deal?”

“You know I could never resist your words, princess. It’s a deal.”

At her last retort, Cassandra blinked. Her heart stuttered in her chest as she realized she’d slipped up in their little word-play. She cleared her throat awkwardly, averting her eyes from Rapunzel’s all of a sudden way too heavy gaze. To her credit, Rapunzel did flush at the abrupt sincerity. After a second however, she giggled and bopped Cassandra’s nose and _oh God too close_. Leaning back and continuing to untangle the bandage with a bashful smile, she spoke up in a soft tone, “I missed this Cass. More than you know.”

Cassandra released the breath she’d been holding, realizing in frustration that she wouldn’t forget that flushed face before she went to bed. Yet, she was more than grateful that the true meaning behind her words seemed to have gone over Rapunzel’s head.

“Me too, Raps.”

Rapunzel finished untangling the bandage and grabbed the wooden pieces, once again taking on a professional tone, “From what you told me went down with the guards, it’s a miracle your bones haven’t moved from their position. That means luckily, I won’t have to set them back in place.”

Cassandra shuddered in relief as a past fracture flashed before her eyes – her shin that time – about two years ago. She had been alone in the woods and had tried to climb a tree in order to knock down some apples, but stepped on a dead branch and fell ten feet to the ground. She’d had to shove her glove into her mouth to keep from biting her own tongue off as she set the bone in place herself. It had not been the most pleasant experience on her travels and suddenly, Cassandra was very grateful that she neither had to set this bone nor take care of it alone.

Rapunzel positioned one wooden plate on top of Cassandra’s arm, and offered the other plate to her, “We’re just going to have to immobilize your arm until it heals with these. Can you hold this one in place on the underside of your arm? Make sure it goes all the way to the base of your fingers.”

Cassandra nodded and did as she was told, while Rapunzel went about wrapping the bandage around the plates, starting in the crease of her elbow. It was a bit awkward to re-position their arms in sync with the wrapping, but they made do.

Once they’d gotten to the middle, Cassandra started feeling better. With the arm immobilized, everything suddenly hurt less; although that obnoxious throbbing was still ever-present.

However, without the pain blocking her senses Cassandra realized she had bigger problems; Rapunzel’s nimble fingers constantly caressed her skin as they went about her arm and once Cassandra became aware of it, she couldn’t ignore it to save her life. She pressed her lips together tightly and looked up into the ceiling in an effort to ignore it, but then Rapunzel took a firm hold of her hand and she shivered helplessly, breath hitching. Her eyes shot back down at her fingers wrapped in Rapunzel’s. She’d forgotten what holding that hand felt like.

She hoped to God Rapunzel wouldn’t notice the violent heartbeat in her wrist or the way she’d completely stopped breathing because she _tried_ but she just couldn’t remember how to do it.

But Rapunzel did notice, and her concerned gaze flickered up to meet Cassandra’s, hand stilling its motion and mouth opened to ask if she was okay – but it stuttered closed when she looked into Cassandra’s wide eyes, full of some emotion she couldn’t place. Rapunzel’s fingers instinctively tightened around hers, and Cassandra could swear she felt her thumb absentmindedly running over the tips of her fingers. Taking a chance, she glanced down and found that she was right. Another shiver ran down her spine.

Rapunzel seemed to have noticed her motion only when Cassandra looked down at it. She stilled her thumb, but didn’t pull away. She kept her eyes fastened on Cassandra’s face, searching it for signs. Then she spoke up, voice a lot lower than before, “… did I hurt you?”

Cassandra’s eyes shot to Rapunzel’s again, but the eye-contact quickly became too much for her. She looked away, shifting in her seat and replied in a futile attempt to play it all off, “Y-yeah, a little.”

Rapunzel blinked at Cassandra’s stutter. She was quite certain she’d never heard her stutter before, and it only added to the thick atmosphere emanating from the room and the tension building in her chest. She was also certain she’d rarely seen her that emotional before – and especially not whatever _that_ emotion was. Whatever it was, it was intense; and it was all aimed at her.

She suddenly remembered she hadn’t answered Cassandra, and so she nodded her head frantically and sucked in a breath in an attempt to soothe her beating heart. She continued to wrap Cassandra’s hand a little quicker than what was proper, suddenly feeling very light-headed. “Right. Sorry.”

With that, a heavy silence fell upon them.

When she was done, she quickly released Cassandra’s arm and stood, gathering her things. She promptly avoided eye-contact when she spoke up, an airy tone around her words. “Well, I think that should do it. Avoid flexing your fingers too much, don’t drink on the arm and sleep a lot of water.”

Cassandra remained still on the side of the bed, her stillness and silence in stark contrast to the chaos inside her mind -- she didn’t even notice Rapunzel’s slip-up. She turned her head towards Rapunzel and tried looking into her eyes for a second, then gave up and averted her gaze to the floor. “Yeah. Thanks.”

Rapunzel stood in the doorway, bouncing on her heels and picking at her sleeve, mouth opened and trying to find something more to say. There should be a million things coming to mind when you haven’t seen your best friend for four years, but due to their encounter her head came up blank – only confusion held a stubborn grip in her mind.

So, she closed her mouth and opened the door, stepping out into the corridor where the air felt a hundred times more breathable. She stared at the wall on the other side for a few seconds, breathing hard. She had half a mind to slap herself – this was ridiculous! No matter that – whatever that was – just happened, this was _Cassandra_. A day hadn’t gone by when she hadn’t missed her, and now, suddenly, she was right here. Within reach. Yet Rapunzel had withdrawn for some tension.

She furrowed her brows in determination and shoved her head back into Cassandra’s room. The woman sat cemented in the same place, staring at the floor. Rapunzel steeled herself – of _course_ there’d be tension, you can’t just pick up where you left off _four years ago_. No matter how close they were, things were bound to be a little awkward after so many years.

She softly called out to her, “Cassandra?”

Cassandra looked up, worry returning to her eyes. Rapunzel wanted to make that worry go away, and so she spoke up in an attempt to soothe it. “It’s great to have you back.”

Cassandra blinked a few times. After their previous exchange, those words weren’t really what she’d expected to hear; but she was beyond relieved that they were being said nevertheless. She smiled, eyes crinkling at the corners happily, “Thanks, Raps. It’s great to be back.”

Rapunzel gave one last reassuring smile and closed the door. Cassandra sat still, listening to her footsteps disappear down the hall. When she was certain Rapunzel was out of ear-shot, she shoved the pillow in her face and screamed.


	4. Dangerous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cue Eugene.

Cassandra had to physically pry her eyes open the following day. She’d lied awake until the early morning-hours, imagining what horrible things Rapunzel probably thought about her now: not even she could have missed the awkward tension that rose after whatever it was that happened. 

Cassandra turned around so that she was lying on her back, staring at the ceiling. A deep crease pushed at her brows as she tried to figure out what went on in Rapunzel’s head in those moments. She had looked puzzled, but also… intrigued? Cassandra was almost certain Rapunzel hadn’t deciphered the emotions in her eyes, but she’d _noticed_ them. That was dangerous. 

Cassandra promptly sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. She dropped her face into her good hand and groaned. Rapunzel could under _no_ circumstances get closer to the truth than she’d already had. Cassandra definitely didn’t come back for that. She didn’t even know she’d still feel this way about Rapunzel after four years: it felt like such a long time to get over someone and start seeing things differently: but the _second_ she looked into those eyes and that sweet voice whispered her name, she knew she was a goner. 

Cassandra stood and walked over to her chest, digging out yesterday’s clothes. As she put them on, she carefully minded her wrapped arm that still throbbed with every movement. In fact, she had to mind her arm almost as much as she’d have to mind herself around Rapunzel. Cassandra decided that with her arm looking like this, it was best to ditch the gloves today. She walked over to her window and opened it, finding Owl perched outside it: just like the good old days. 

She smiled and ruffled the feathers on his head, ”Morning Owl.” Owl’s eyes widened and he staggered back a few inches, hooting at her. Cassandra scoffed and turned to her mirror, self-consciously running a hand through her short, disastrous locks. 

”Oh come on, I don’t look _that_ bad!” Owl hooted again, his eyes seemingly crinkling in amusement. Cassandra scowled deeply at him, before picking up a brush and starting to sort out the knots. ”Shut it you stupid bird. _You_ try sleeping well in your own bed after years away from it.”

Owl hopped onto her mirror and cocked his head, hooting questioningly. Cassandra snapped her head up to him and stomped her foot. ”It is _not_ the opposite way around, you do sleep badly in your own bed the first night!” 

Owl hooted again and Cassandra scoffed, pointing her brush at the bird, ” _That_ is ridiculous and has nothing to do with it. Rapunzel was in here for a maximum of twenty minutes: what sort of thing could have went down in that time to leave me sleepless for the entire night?” 

Owl made a face that resembled a suggestive smirk, _wiggling_ his non-existing eyebrows. The next second he was hit in the face with a brush. 

Owl fell off the mirror and onto the desk, but he quickly recovered and snapped his head towards Cassandra, eyes shooting daggers at her. Cassandra smirked at him despite her reddening face. She turned around and waved her hand. ”Oh come on, I’ve seen you take way worse hits. Besides, you deserve it for even _scraping_ at Eugene’s level of humor.”

_Though I doubt he’d laugh at me banging his wife._

Cassandra went to the door and opened it, stepping out into the hallway. She took a deep breath to steel herself for the many different conversations she might face today. Then, she stuck her head back into her room, addressing Owl. ”I’m gonna find Rapunzel and Eugene.” Cassandra smiled to herself, then steeled her eyes and fixed Owl with a death-glare. ”Don’t tell _anyone_ this,… but I actually missed that annoying prick.” Then she closed the door, staring at it for a second with a fond smile. 

”That’s _prince_ annoying prick to you, CassANdra!” 

Cassandra nearly leapt out of her skin at the sound of Eugene’s voice. She screamed and hauled herself away from him, pressing herself to the opposite wall with a hand on her heaving chest, eyes wide.

She realized her mistake as she caught sight of Eugene bent over double, his hysterical laughter echoing off the walls. ”Oh-oh my God, you should have seen your _face_ !! Oh man, I wish Blondie was here so she could have captured that face in a painting because let me tell you, I would have _framed_ that painting and hung it above our bed!”

…..

Cassandra blinked once, and twice: then, her face twisted into a furious scowl and she growled as she leapt up and pushed Eugene against the wall, holding her forearm against his throat. Eugene immediately stopped laughing and held his arms up, eyes going wide. Cassandra fixed him with a death-glare and pushed out through her gritted teeth, ”You tell _anyone_ about this and I’ll cut you open from your stupid goatee down to your tiny-” 

She never got to finish her sentence, because Eugene swiftly grabbed her arm and wrapped his own arms around her in a suffocating hug, squishing his cheek on her head. It blew Cassandra away.

”I missed you too, Cass.” 

Silence followed as she tried to process what was happening. In their many years of acquaintance, Cassandra realized Eugene Fitzherbert had never hugged her before. She promptly pushed down the sentiment rising in her throat, but hugged him back nevertheless. ”Long time no see, Fitzherbert.” 

It felt a lot less weird to hug him than she would have imagined it: as a matter of fact, it felt nice. And with that realization, Cassandra basically threw him off of her. Instead, she remembered where they were and looked at him quizzically. ”What were you doing in the servants’ quarters anyway?

Eugene shrugged and started walking back towards the main-part of the castle, throwing an arm around Cassandra. Cassandra firmly removed it. 

”Oh you know, Madame Ice Demon returns to Corona and the word spreads quickly: I just had to see it with my own eyes. I gotta tell you, after four years of absence, it was a little hard to believe that you’d just showed up like that - and on _my_ birthday of all days? Now _that_ gave me some unpleasant flashbacks so granted, I had to stop by and make sure there were no glowing, blue rocks or creepy demon-children hanging out with you back here.”

Cassandra managed a smile despite the sinking feeling in her chest at Eugene’s joke and rolled her eyes. ”Hilarious as usual, I see.” However he seems to have seen through it, because he stepped closer and bumped his shoulder with hers. 

”Hey, sorry if that struck a nerve. I hope you know we’re all really happy that you’re back, Cass.”

Cassandra smiled gratefully as the weight lifted from her chest, relishing in the fact that she could truly and wholly believe Eugene’s words. ”I know. I’m happy to be back, too. Thanks Eugene, and oh-” Cassandra turned to Eugene and made sure he took in her shit-eating grin before continuing, ”Happy 30th birthday.”

All the fondness was slapped off of Eugene’s face and replaced with that oh-so familiar look of distaste Cassandra knew and loved. As they walked off, Cassandra’s cackles sounded through the halls over Eugenes remark, ”In two years that’ll be you, lady. I’ll be counting the days.” 

  
  


|||

  
  


The duo reached the garden just in time for breakfast, where Rapunzel was waiting for them. Her eyes flashed with _some_ emotion for a split-second when she made eye-contact with Cassandra, but it quickly melted into happiness as she sprinted out from the gazebo and towards them with eager, barefoot steps. ”There you guys are!"

Cassandra found herself wondering which one of them Rapunzel would run to first: luckily, her petty worries didn’t have to go further than that as Rapunzel reached them and squished herself in-between their bodies, throwing one arm around each’s shoulder. 

She squeezed them tightly against her sides and reached up to kiss Eugene’s cheek, then turning and nuzzling her head into Cassandra’s shoulder. ”Ah, I can’t believe my two besties are finally in the same place again, that we _all_ are! Rapunzel, Eugene and Cassandra, the fearsome trio, the three musketeers, team… R.E.C!”

”Yuck.” Eugene scrunched his nose in disgust for the horrible acronym, and Cassandra chuckled and shook her head. She crossed her arms the best she could and shot a sideways-glance at Rapunzel. 

”Raps, I thought you’d learned by now that names aren’t your thing.” Eugene snorted humorlessly, keeping his gaze forward as they walked. 

”Well, based on the fact that she’s _still_ trying to come up with just _one_ good nickname for me, I’m gonna take a wild guess and say she hasn’t learned a thing.” 

Cassandra smirked at Eugene and leaned towards him. ”Is that so, Genie?”

Eugene abruptly froze in place, his face going completely blank and eyes unfocused. Cassandra was prepared for the disruption and stopped as well, bringing her good hand up to her chin and grasping it. She kept her smirk plastered on her face as she waited for his reaction.

Several seconds went by in silence, before Eugene cut through it with a voice all too calm and controlled for him, ”See, now you have two options, CassANdra. You could either _never_ use that name for me ever again - in my presence or even when I’ve been _dead_ for twenty years - or you could run, hide and pray I never find you.”

….

Cassandra threw her head back and bursted out laughing. She fixed him with a wide stare, eyes crinkling. ”Are you serious? You know I could take you down with my pinky in my _sleep,_ right?”

Eugene flailed his arms around, then balled his hands in tight fists against his body, ”Oh you-” he trailed off and slammed his mouth shut. His eyes widened comically, and Cassandra _knew_ he believed her. Her smirk somehow widened. Eugene stomped his foot and drew in a sharp breath. ” _Blondie_ ”, he turned to Rapunzel and jabbed his finger at Cassandra, ”Control that woman.”

Rapunzel, who’d been eyeing the exchange with amusement dancing in her eyes, sighed fondly at Eugene and rolled her eyes. She turned to Cassandra and crossed her arms, hunching her shoulders as she fixed Cassandra with big, pleading eyes. ”Please, Cass?”

Cassandra kept in another laughter as she and Rapunzel looked at each other, eyes doing all the talking. Rapunzel obviously believed Eugene was being ridiculous, but was humoring him. Cassandra had had half a mind to continue with that nickname for her entire visit (she’d spent _four_ years weighing all the nicknames against each other ((she’d made pros and cons-lists!!)) to decide the best one, damnit), but her eyes softened faster than she’d like to admit when they looked at Rapunzel’s for longer than a second. 

Cassandra snickered and brought her face down closer to Rapunzel’s, squinting her eyes. She crossed her arms the best she could and spoke in a low, sweet voice. ”Of course, princess.”

Rapunzel’s eyes crinkled and she grinned, sending Cassandra a pointed look. ” _Thank_ you.” She turned to Eugene and took a hold of his arm, putting her chin on his shoulder as she peeked up at his face. ”See? It’s out of the world, now let it go Eugene.”

They started walking towards the gazebo again, Eugene grumbling something about ”I’ll let it go when I know _she’s_ let it go…” When they got close enough for Cassandra to smell the freshly baked bread, the sausages and the expensive cheese she almost cried. 

Four years on the literal road rarely lead to anything other than apples, watery soups and flavorless bread in the inns: she’d forgotten how _good_ food tasted like. She would have to pace herself so that her friends wouldn’t suspect anything, or she’d never hear the end of it. 

Cassandra sat down in the padded chair and took in the bountiful of food in front of her: it was probably the same amount as a week’s fill for her, but she wasn’t complaining; but as she grabbed a piece of bread and was about to smear some butter on it, she realized she only had one hand available. 

Rapunzel and Eugene were caught up in their own conversation, and so Cassandra saw her opportunity to try and spread the butter herself without anyone helping. However, it was proving to be a lot harder than she’d imagined: she tried to hold down the bread with her right hand to butter it with her left, but each time she tried holding the bread in place her arm would scream in protest. 

Cassandra huffed out a breath and her bangs blew away from her face. She tried holding the bread down with her elbow instead, but found that it was completely in the way for the butter. She pressed her lips together and blew out air from her nose. Then she flickered her eyes up to Rapunzel, reluctantly opening her mouth, ”Hey Raps, could you help me out?”

Rapunzel’s discussion with Eugene about her latest art-project died in her throat, and she turned her head to Cassandra, ”What is it C- oh!” She bolted out of her chair and rushed over to Cassandra, taking the bread from her fingers and spreading some butter on it. She then put the bread down and gingerly took a hold of Cassandra’s arm - but not before hesitating for a split-second, which did not go unnoticed by Cassandra.

”How does it feel?” Rapunzel asked and padded her thumbs across the arm. 

Cassandra tried not to think about their identical position last night and what it had brought with it. Ignoring the way Rapunzel’s hands felt was somehow almost _harder_ with Eugene staring them down. She brought her left hand up to rest her chin in and turned her head away. She spoke softly but pointedly, ”It feels fine, Raps: no need to check on it all the time.”

As Rapunzel was focused on checking Cassandra’s arm and Cassandra was busy trying not to react the wrong way, neither one paid attention to Eugene watching them from across the table. If they had, they’d had noticed how he craned his neck, squinted eyes roaming Cassandra’s face carefully.

Rapunzel nodded and straightened her back, letting go of Cassandra’s arm. ”Just making sure everything’s still in place!” She turned and went back to her seat, fixing her own bread. Eugene was still flickering his eyes between the two, one brow raised. Just as Cassandra turned her gaze back towards the table however, he seemed to drop it and dug into the food. 

After a few minutes of silent indulging, Rapunzel spoke up. ”So Cass, do you have anything special planned for your first day home?”

Cassandra pondered swallowing her food before speaking, but decided that it tasted too good to swallow right away. ”I was going to see my dad. I’ve sent him some letters through the years, but since I always travelled he couldn’t send any back,” Cassandra swallowed her food and poked at some cheese with her fork, smiling, ”I missed him.” 

Rapunzel nodded in understanding. Then, her eyes shot wide-open and she slammed her hands on the table, startling Eugene into dropping his knife, ”Hey, he’s coming tonight to Eugene’s birthday-banquet: why don’t you surprise him?? Oh, it’ll be so much fun! It is the perfect place to do it, there will be people from all over the seven kingdoms coming: he’ll never suspect it!” 

Cassandra put her bread down and chuckled. ”A banquet with people from all the seven kingdoms, huh? I obviously didn’t expect you to want anything smaller Fitzherbert, but the fact that so many people _wanted_ to come _?_ Did not see that coming.”

Eugene grinned at her, ”Ah-ha-ha CassANdra, a comedic genius-” he dropped his grin and glared at her, ”no. I’ll have you know, these people wanted to come because I am a splendidly pleasant person, thank you very much, _but_ we probably shouldn’t tell anyone that you’re coming because _that_ will make everyone but your little papa turn at the door.”

Cassandra sat back and snickered. She turned to Rapunzel and smiled. ”That actually sounds like a good idea, Raps.” She pointed her fork at Rapunzel, ”But I get to surprise him _discreetly_ , you are not announcing my presence to the whole ballroom.”

Rapunzel rolled her eyes and waved her hand. ”Of course not Cass, you’ll get a quiet moment with him. But until then, we have to find you something to wear!”

Cassandra grimaced, ”I don’t know Rapunzel, dressing up isn’t really my thing…” 

”Oh, but you have to, Cass! It’s the prince consort’s 30th birthday: it’s a big occasion! All the guests will be dressed up, you can’t be the only one there not!” Rapunzel said, gesturing wildly with her hands. 

Cassandra sighed. ”I guess not…” she picked up her bread and took a bite, chewing it as she looked around in thought. She looked up at Eugene and smirked, speaking around the bread, ”Do I _have_ to come? Come on Fitzherbert, we both know you don’t want me there.”

”That I do not.” Eugene smirked and crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair. He glanced at Rapunzel, and upon seeing her scowl he dropped his smirk in fear. He held his hands up in a peace-offering and Rapunzel sighed, turning to Cassandra. 

”Come on Cass, enough joking. You know we all really want you there, and we don’t have much time: guests will start arriving at three!” She tossed the last piece of bread into her mouth and chewed it quickly, swallowing it and shooting up from her chair with a newfound energy. ”Come on, you can choose something from my closet!” 

Cassandra sighed as she let Rapunzel drag her up by her hand and half-heartedly staggered along behind her. ”Sure Raps, whatever you say. I wasn’t still hungry or anything.”

As they ran off, Cassandra heard Eugene shout after them, ”No, yeah, go ahead! Leave a man at the breakfast-table on his birthday, he probably doesn’t care and most definitely does anything for the woman he loves, including letting her choose an _ice dragon_ before him!” Now that made Cassandra feel better, and she snickered under her breath.

  
  


|||

Rapunzel opened the door to her bedroom, Cassandra following closely behind. She looked around and was relieved to see that it hadn’t changed that much. It was still the same room she’d had since she got back to the castle all those years ago: only now, there were two people living there. Cassandra wasn’t sure why, but Eugene’s lack of personal stuff brought some kind of comfort to her. It made this place seem like nothing had changed - Cassandra reached up and fingered at the strip of fabric from her old handmaiden-dress still tied around her arm - it was still the good old days. 

Rapunzel gestured around the room and chuckled. ”I hope you still know your way around this place.”

Cassandra brushed past her and smirked, ”Like the back of my hand.” She went over to Rapunzel’s closet and threw it open, almost dizzying at the sight of all the dresses. Rapunzel came up behind her and propped her elbow on Cassandra’s shoulder, looking at the dresses with a doubtful eye. 

”Although I have plenty of ballroom-dresses, I’m actually not sure how many I have that resembles your style…” 

Cassandra snorted, keeping her eyes forward to ignore Rapunzel’s proximity. ”And by that, you mean you don’t have many pairs of pants.”

”No, I guess I don’t.” Rapunzel laughed and turned her head towards Cassandra’s, jabbing a finger into her chest. ”But to be fair, you _are_ a girl and girls are supposed to wear dresses at fancy events! And you did wear your handmaiden’s dress for a long time.”

Cassandra growled in annoyance. ”That’s because I had to, but you make a point,” she turned her head towards Rapunzel’s, coming face-to-face with her, ”but I am _not_ wearing a puffy skirt.”

Rapunzel huffed and held her glare, neither one willing to back down from their staring-contest. Then, after a few seconds Rapunzel giggled and turned her head back to the closet. ”Have it your way, rebel.” 

Rapunzel continued scouring the closet with her eyes for a while, when suddenly they popped open and she lunged forward, grabbing an off white dress in green. ”This one is perfect! It goes wonderfully with your eyes and skin and best yet, no one will recognize it! I never got around to wear this.”

Cassandra took the dress from Rapunzel and eyed it skeptically. It was a simple design: a long circle skirt, sweetheart-neckline and short, capped sleeves. There was only one ridiculous part: Cassandra flicked her eyes up to Rapunzel and raised a brow, ”Beads? Really?”

Rapunzel’s smile looked _uncomfortable,_ like it would crack open her cheeks any time now. She clapped her hands excitedly and took the dress from Cassandra. ”Trust me, it will look beautiful on you! This is a royal banquet, you need that something extra!” Rapunzel clasped her hands and fixed Cassandra with wide, pleading eyes. ”Please, Cass? For me?”

Cassandra eyed Rapunzel, then the dress, and then Rapunzel again for a few seconds, before groaning and giving in. ”Fine, but you get this for _one_ evening and one only.”

Rapunzel squealed and ran behind her dressing panel, motioning for her to follow. ”One evening is all I ask!” Cassandra chuckled and stepped behind the panel as well. She kicked off her shoes and undid her belt, then removed her oversized tunic. She then went to remove her tight undershirt. She started with pulling her bad arm out of it, wincing a little as she did. 

Rapunzel rushed in front of her, ”Do you need any help, Cass?”

Cassandra shook her head, ”No, I can handle it. It was a little tough to put on this morning, but it’s no problem.” She then disappeared into the shirt to try and maneuver her way out of the turtleneck, grunting when she didn’t get it right on the first try. 

Cassandra heard Rapunzel mumble, ”Oh this is ridiculous,” she jumped as she suddenly felt two hands grab a hold of her shirt at the hips, ”Maybe you can handle this yourself, but I’m right here and I might as well help you so this will go quicker.” 

Cassandra swallowed, lowered her hands and nodded stiffly, hoping that Rapunzel could see the motion and that she could _not_ hear her heartbeat quicken. She felt Rapunzel stepping closer and slowly pulling the shirt over Cassandra’s head, careful to avoid her arm. Cassandra held her breath as the cold air hit her stomach, making her muscles contract: but she was thankful for it when suddenly, everything was too hot. When Cassandra’s head popped out of the turtleneck, she came face-to-face with Rapunzel and _oh no that is too close_. 

”See, m-” Rapunzel’s words caught in her throat as she took her eyes off the shirt and looked at Cassandra, and Cassandra could pinpoint the exact second Rapunzel’s eyes shifted dangerously. They held each others eyes like that for seconds: Cassandra vaguely registered Rapunzel pull the shirt off of her left arm, but it felt like an eternity away when her eyes were holding hers, too green and oh too much. _Dangerous._

Cassandra tore her gaze to the floor and tried not to cover herself: she’d changed Rapunzel’s clothes a thousand times and Rapunzel had seen her change as well, nothing was new. She spoke up in a voice she prayed wasn’t too hoarse, ”I can keep the leggings on, they won’t be visible through the skirt anyway.” She then stepped behind Rapunzel and grabbed the dress, holding it up to her expectedly. 

That made Rapunzel snap out of her thoughts and she pressed her lips together, nodding. She took the dress from Cassandra who turned around to face the mirror. Cassandra sought out her own gaze and stubbornly held it when Rapunzel pulled on the dress and started tying it at the back. Cassandra breathed slowly and with exaggerated control, trying to focus on _anything_ other than Rapunzel’s deliberate knuckles brushing her skin as she tied the dress, but everything was fire and the room was surely shrinking because the air was getting thinner-

Rapunzel was careful with not tying it too tightly, to which Cassandra was thankful: it was hard enough to breathe as it was. Rapunzel was so close, every two seconds Cassandra could feel her breath on her. It was agony to hold in the shudders that so desperately wanted to run down her back, but Cassandra grit her teeth and managed. Until Rapunzel was done and ran her hands up from her lower back up to rest between her shoulder-blades. Then, Cassandra couldn’t help the quiet shiver that pulsed through her.

Her eyes snapped to Rapunzel’s in the mirror and saw she was slowly lifting her gaze to meet Cassandra’s. Rapunzel looked at her, eyes wide and holding her breath and hands _still_ pressing into her back. If Cassandra wasn’t imagining things, she’d say there was a slight flush to her cheeks as well. Cassandra’s chest contracted with emotion and anxiety; Rapunzel had never looked at her like that before and it did things to Cassandra. _This is dangerous._

”Raps?” Cassandra’s voice was low and thick with emotion. Her voice startled Rapunzel, and she blinked. When she came to it, her eyes had shifted and Cassandra watched in the mirror as they traced her up and down. Then Rapunzel smiled and brought her hands to Cassandra’s shoulders, squeezing them.

”You look beautiful, Cass.” 

Beautiful? 

Right. She was wearing a dress. Cassandra looked at herself in the mirror and observed the dress. It really was beautiful, with beads decorating the short sleeves and bodice and then steadily thinning out on the skirt. She looked like a princess. Her eyes flickered back to Rapunzel and saddened. She’d never be one, though. 

Instead Cassandra put on smile. She was happy with how the dress looked on her and that was enough. ”It’s perfect, Raps.”

”Oh!” Rapunzel suddenly let go of her shoulders and ran off to another corner of her room, Cassandra mourning the loss of her hands. When Rapunzel was out of sight, Cassandra sighed and ran her hand through her hair. Hadn’t she promised herself this _morning_ that what just happened wouldn’t happen again? She threw her head back and looked at the ceiling, biting her lip. Maybe this would be harder than she’d thought. 

Rapunzel returned shortly after with a choker, fully bedazzled in diamonds. Cassandra didn’t have time to react before Rapunzel was back behind her, holding the necklace up to her throat, ”It’s perfect!”

Cassandra’s eyes widened. ”No, Rapunzel.” She promptly shook her head and turned around, fixing Rapunzel with a pointed look. ”I am _not_ wearing your diamond-necklace. What if I lose it?”

Rapunzel rolled her eyes, lowering the necklace. ”Come on Cass, you’ve never even lost a sock as far as I know,” she raised the necklace again and gave Cassandra her best puppy-eyes, ”Please, Cass. I want you to wear it.”

Cassandra pressed her lips together and shifted her eyes from the necklace to Rapunzel, then immediately regretting it when she caught sight of Rapunzel’s puppy-eyes. She slammed her eyes shut to ignore it, but the image was already etched into her mind. 

No one could resist those eyes. 

Cassandra groaned loudly and opened her eyes, carefully snatching the necklace from Rapunzel. ”Fine.”

Rapunzel grinned and bounced on her toes. ”Great!” Then her grin dropped and she rubbed her arm. ”Right… I wish I could help you get ready before the party, but I have a ton of things to check on before the it starts, and then Angelica will barely have time to get _me_ ready…”

Cassandra held up her hands, ”You’ve already done more than enough, Raps. I’ll have one of the handmaidens help me instead, and I’ll see you at the banquet later,” Cassandra smirked, ”is Faith still around? I never got around to apologizing to her for stealing her identity.”

Rapunzel laughed, ”Yeah, she’s still around. I’ll have her sent to your room at around half past two?”

Cassandra smiled and nodded at Rapunzel. ”Thank you, Raps.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry for inactivity. I've had a bunch of stuff at school, but the workload should lighten up for a few weeks now before exams.


	5. Banquet part 1: The dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassandra arrives at the banquet.

Soon before four, Faith left Cassandra’s room after they’d caught up with each other for some time. Cassandra remained inside, checking the mirror one last time. She smoothed out her dress and used her fingers to comb through the ends of her hair, frowning at her reflection. Just then, Owl flew in and perched himself on the window-sill, hooting to make his presence known. 

Cassandra whipped her head towards him and smiled. She turned back to the mirror and shook her head, chuckling. ”I know, I look ridiculous.” 

Owl looked her over with round eyes, then hooted in approval. Cassandra’s gaze flickered between him and the mirror. ”You think so?” She reached up into her hair and touched the baby’s breaths weaved into the twisted braid that Faith had plaited around her head in a half up half down updo. ”The flowers aren’t too much?” 

Owl looked at the flowers and crinkled his eyes in amusement, to which Cassandra shot him a friendly glare. ”Shut up, you be glad I talked her out of a flower-crown.” 

She looked down at her right arm, still casted, and snorted. ”The one time I’m dressing up and this chunk is stuck on my arm. The white gloves were a smart move for camouflaging it,” She wrinkled her noise, ”though I’m not used to gloves being this tight. Or long.” 

Owl looked down at her neck and cocked his head in question. Cassandra looked down at the diamonds tied securely around it and smiled, reaching up to hover her fingertips above them. ”Rapunzel insisted I wear them tonight.” She looked at them in the mirror and grinned: the afternoon sun was spilling through the window and reflected off the necklace, making each diamond shine like a hundred suns. ”They remind me of her.”

Owl’s eyes seemed to soften and he hooted triumphantly. She sighed and plopped down on her bed, eyes stubbornly fixed on the bedspread. ”Okay, so maybe I lied yesterday when I said Rapunzel had nothing to do with it. Maybe it turns out I still feel something for her. So what? There’s nothing you or I can do about it anyway.”

Owl hopped onto the bed and sat in front of her face, forcing her to look into his frown. Cassandra rolled her eyes and sighed. ”Look. By some miracle, Rapunzel and I are still friends after I stole the moonstone, took over the kingdom and destroyed her home. I can’t risk anything else jeopardizing our friendship and _this,_ ” Cassandra gestured to herself, ”my… _feelings,_ would definitely do that. I need you to understand that I’m not going to tell Rapunzel and put her in that spot. I would never do that to her, or Eugene for that matter.”

Owl looked at Cassandra with big, sad eyes. She smiled to lift his spirits, but her eyes betrayed her as well. ”I know you only want me to be happy. But believe me, I _am._ I’m still in her life and not from behind prison-bars, but right by her side. That’s more than I ever deserved, Owl,” she ruffled his feathers in an attempt to lighten the mood, ”I can’t ask her for more.”

She then cringed as old memories arose in her mind. ”I know I don’t have a great history of bottling up my feelings. But this time, I’m doing it for her: not myself. And I have to.” 

Owl finally looked down from her despondent eyes and the room fell silent. They sat like that for quite some time, pondering past mistakes. Then, Cassandra sighed and got up from the bed. ”It’s getting late. The guests have probably stopped arriving by now.”She walked to the mirror and made sure her hair stayed in place one last time before heading for the door. She crossed her fingers to Owl and spoke, before heading to the ballroom. ”Wish me luck.” 

<><><><><><><><>

Cassandra’s gave a low whistle when she reached the ballroom: you could have never stepped foot in this castle and you’d still know exactly where to go, just by the volume emanating from that room. Making her way through the much less hostile guards, Cassandra passed through the open doors without a problem this time. 

She saw herself to a secluded corner and started scanning the crowd for her dad: which was proving to be harder than she’d thought. Apparently, Eugene (Rapunzel) hadn’t exaggerated when he’d (she’d) invited people from _all_ the seven kingdoms: she doubted she’d ever seen the room this crowded. The volume was suddenly very valid.

With three long dinner-tables lined up in a U-shape at the right side of the room, the large space became even more limited for people to move around. Therefore, finding one single person was harder than it should have been. Cassandra strained her eyes to look for any familiar face that might lead her to her father, but came up completely empty-handed.

After searching for some time, Cassandra gave up and instead set her eyes on the king and queen - and beside them, Rapunzel and Eugene, all four of them sitting on a separate throne. Every twenty seconds a new person would be introduced to them and offer their regards. In return, the royal family would curtly nod and thank them for coming. 

Cassandra’s eyes automatically landed on Rapunzel and her heart skipped a beat. She was dressed in emerald, and her eyes were glowing from it. Her sleeves rested off the shoulders and Cassandra’s eyes were helplessly drawn to them. With them exposed, she noticed how much longer her hair had actually grown since their last goodbye, thought it still ended above her shoulders. She must cut it regularly. 

Cassandra roamed her shoulders and collarbones before her eyes finally landed on her neck and found she was wearing a choker very much like hers: only Rapunzel’s was in gold. Cassandra couldn’t help but feel like she’d chosen that on purpose. The thought brought a smile to her face. 

She reluctantly tore her eyes away to look at Eugene next to Rapunzel. He looked comfortable up there, despite being surrounded by such high and mighty people. Cassandra remembered how nervous Rapunzel had been her first times meeting nobles. Granted, she’d never met _anyone_ before that, plus she had to hide seventy feet of hair. Still, Eugene seemed awfully pulled together. It made Cassandra realize just how long she’d been gone and frankly, it was sad to see she’d lost her only chance at mocking Eugene when he’d been a rookie. 

Then she looked at Rapunzel and Eugene’s joined hands and realized part of why he was so calm was probably that he always had her by his side. His wife. Cassandra deflated at the thought, and then immediately scolded herself for doing so. She knew this was what she’d return to, and she’d be damned if she let it get to her. 

It seemed like the gods were giving her a break when finally, Cassandra spotted her dad next in line to greet the family. Her heart warmed at the sight of him: perhaps she’d missed him more than she thought. As he stepped forwards, Cassandra saw Rapunzel’s eyes pop open. She vigorously scanned the room for Cassandra, but she’d hidden herself well at the outskirts of the packed crowd and thus remained unseen. 

Cassandra smirked. _Serves you right for trying to break your promise._

The former captain bowed to them and Cassandra could make out what seemed to be him congratulating Eugene. Upon seeing a familiar face, Eugene broke his polite façade and shot finger guns at her dad while saying something Cassandra couldn’t hear: though judging by his smug expression, he obviously thought it was hilarious. Cassandra knew it wasn’t.

When her dad had greeted them, he turned and walked to a corner equally as empty as Cassandra’s, standing by himself. She grinned and shook her head: they may not be related by blood, but she sure was his daughter. She made her way over to him as discreetly as possible and managed to sneak up behind his back. 

”Never thought I’d see you in a cravat and tailcoat.”

He jolted at the sound of her voice and whipped around, looking at her with big, disbelieving eyes. Up close, Cassandra could see age was getting to him. His hair was streaked with grey and the wrinkles on his forehead and around his eyes were much more prominent than they’d been when she last saw him, four years ago. It brought a sense of melancholy, once again seeing what she’d missed out on. 

The feeling died in the blink of an eye however, when she saw the way he looked at her: he didn’t believe she was actually standing there. ”Cassandra…?”

The next second she was scooped up in a crushing hug. She did her best to stifle her cry of pain into his shoulder when her wrist was pinned in-between them in a torturous angle. ”Nonono dad let go let go, broken arm let go-”

”Oh!” He practically shoved her off of him and gingerly held her arm in his hands, examining it. ”Sorry, kid. What did you do?”

Cassandra blushed and looked down at the ground, mumbling, ”I… fell off a horse.”

Her dad let go of her arm and rose to his full height, raising an eyebrow at her. ”My daughter did what, now?” 

Cassandra chanced a glance at him and her blood boiled: that smug bastard was holding in a laugh. 

She crossed her arms the best she could and fixed him with a glare. ”She fell. Off of a horse. Something funny about that, old man?”

Her dad cleared his throat and shook his head, avoiding her gaze. ”I wouldn’t say that. More like, unexpected,” he bumped her shoulder and grinned, ”I mean, have you lost your touch? How much of your time on the road has _actually_ been spent on the road?” He made a point of eyeing her elegant outfit and crouched down to her height, narrowing his eyes, ”Have you gone _soft_?”

Cassandra growled and snatched his wrist, twisting it just so much that she knew it would hurt. She looked into her dad’s strained eyes with a challenging smirk. ”Quite the opposite, dad: I’ve learned some new tricks. You should see what happens with your bone if I just nick it downwards from here.”

She gripped his wrist long enough for him to get the message, then released him and dusted off her dress. He rubbed his wrist and huffed out a laugh, never taking his eyes off her. Then he hugged her tightly, minding her arm this time. ”I missed you so much, kid.”

Cassandra finally allowed her emotions to kick in, but blinked back her tears when she hugged him back.”I missed you too, dad,” she squeezed her eyes shut and a smile broke out on her face, ”more than you know.”

They stood like that for some moments before he released her and nodded towards the royal family. ”Have you said hi to the princess yet?”

Cassandra looked at Rapunzel, delighted for an excuse to watch her again. ”I have, yesterday night when I arrived.” She decided to leave out the part about being captured by the guards: for some reason, she had a feeling her dad wouldn’t approve of her reckless behavior towards authorities. ”I’ve also seen Eugene.”

Her dad chuckled, ”Isn’t it crazy? That boy is a prince now.”

”Prince consort,” Cassandra corrected her dad with a smirk, ”don’t give that thick head more than you have to.” 

”Good point.” He put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed. ”What about the king and queen?”

Cassandra stilled. A bucket of cold water over washed over her as realization dawned: she hadn’t actually talked to them since before she stole the moonstone. Her eyes widened and the air was suddenly much thinner. 

When she still hadn’t answered after many seconds, her dad turned to look at her. Her distress must have been shining through like the sun, because he grabbed a hold of her other shoulder and looked into her eyes. 

”Hey, it’s okay. They’re forgiving people.”

”Forgiving??” Cassandra threw her arms out, ”Sure, they forgave Eugene for all the thefts he’d committed throughout the years, but he also brought their lost daughter of 18 years back. They forgave Varian who actually didn’t do all that big of a damage, after he helped fix his mistakes _and_ served some time in jail,” she jabbed a finger into her chest, ”but me?? I laid waste to all of Corona, I-I helped an ancient demon take control of the two most powerful objects in the world and on _top_ of all that, I hurt their daughter in about a million different ways! They may be kind, but _no one_ is that forgiving.”

”Kid, breathe.” Upon her dad’s words, Cassandra realized she was on the border of hyperventilating. She shut her mouth and nodded, taking deep breaths through her nose. He smiled and patted her shoulder. ”Listen, you’re not banished. You left Corona because you _wanted_ to. You have every right to return and you know that.”

Cassandra looked down, ”That doesn’t mean looking them in the eye will be easy.”

”I know. But you’ll have me. And the princess is sitting right by their side.”

Cassandra pressed her lips together and looked up into her father’s eyes, nodding. She straightened her back and laced her hands in front of her, walking towards the thrones. With each step, she heard her heartbeat a little louder in her ears. She did her best to ignore it and instead focused on looking straight ahead and to appear calm. 

Frankly, this was ridiculous: she’d faced a lot scarier people on her travels, and almost all of them alone. Granted, those people weren’t the parents of someone who held her affections. Even though Cassandra knew that nothing would ever happen between her and Rapunzel, she still felt some responsibility to come off as decent to her parents: hence her nervousness, because that sense of decency had gone out the window the second she snatched that damn moonstone and then disappeared further and further from reach the more damage she wrecked. 

Nevertheless, she steeled herself and took a deep breath as she reached the end of the line. Suddenly, all four pairs of eyes were on her: Cassandra desperately wanted to seek out Rapunzel’s to calm her nerves: but she sucked it up and forced herself to look straight into King Frederic’s cool gaze. 

She bowed and closed her eyes as a sign of respect, ”King Frederic, Queen Arianna. I’m honored to be back in your kingdom, and I would once again like to thank you for your mercy after the moonstone-incident, as well as apologize for my reckless behavior,” she rose and looked into their eyes, mustering a smile, ”I don’t deserve your kind treatment. I am eternally grateful.”

She would have expected King Frederic to scowl, glower, glare or at the very least frown. What she didn’t expect was for him to break out into a warm smile, which quite frankly knocked her off her feet. ”Cassandra. You have long since atoned for your mistakes by helping to take down Zhan Tiri and making amends with my daughter, and you served this kingdom loyally for years before that. Therefore, your apologies aren’t necessary. You always have a place and a home here in Corona. It is good to see you again, child.”

Cassandra stood there, speechless and probably coming off as rude for staring. She couldn’t help it though, because she really hadn’t expected those words. She looked at Queen Ariannato see if she agreed and found she was sharing Frederic’s warm smile, nodding at her. 

Cassandra was rarely one to cry at emotional moments, and realized this couldn’t be one of those when she remembered herself and where she was. Instead she let her relief and bliss shine through her smile, bowing. ”Thank you, Your Majesty.” 

After _relishing_ in the feeling of forgiveness, she turned to Rapunzel and Eugene. She wondered if it was okay to drop the pleasantries with them or not in this situation, but decided against it just in case. So she bowed her head, ”Princess Rapunzel.” 

She then looked up at Eugene’s smug face and tried to ignore the way her head started pounding. Taking a calming breath, she put on her best ’I-definitely-do-not-mean-this,-you-know-it-and-I-know-it’-face, and _tried_ to not grit her teeth as she forced out those horrible words. ”Prince Eugene."

Cassandra was forced to watch with a straight face as Eugene flashed her a shit-eating grin, but a subtle elbow from Rapunzel forced seriousness onto him as well. No amount of elbows in the world could put out that evil glint in his eyes though, and he nodded at her. ”Cass _an_ dra.” 

_Seriously._

Cassandra chanced a look at the king and queen, who were eying the exchange. She wondered if it was worth it. Then she looked back at Eugene: the look on his smug face said ’I got you where I want you and there’s nothing you can do about it’ and Cassandra snapped. 

Honestly, she could have had a knife to her throat and being nice to Eugene was the only thing that could save her, and it wouldn’t have mattered. 

_To hell with niceties._

She spoke up in a honeyed voice, making sure he looked into her venomous eyes, ”I wanted to congratulate you on 30 long years on this Earth, Your Highness. It must be a relief to finally have your best years behind you. No more pressure, right?” 

Unable to resist the bait, Eugene smirked and flipped his hair. ”The thing about looks, Cass _an_ dra, is that for some people, they never go away. In fact, they might just get even better. And for some people,” he looked at Cassandra up and down and pursed his lips in disapproval, ”well, for some people they were never even there.”

Cassandra blinked in confusion and looked down at herself. ”Why are you looking at me like that Fitzherbert, I’m not a mirror?”

”Could have fooled me, you’re just as flat.”

”You know what else is gonna be flat soon?”

”Okay!!” Rapunzel cut in from beside them, eyes panicked and a huge smile plastered on her face. She grabbed Eugene’s arm and rubbed it, keeping her eyes on Cassandra. ”Thank you for your best wishes, Cassandra, it means a lot!”

Just then, a bell rang clear through the big hall and a servant’s voice came through. ”Dinner is served!” 

Rapunzel sighed in relief and bounced up, still holding onto Eugene. She marched up to Cassandra and grabbed hold of her with her other arm, steering them towards the center-table. When they were far away enough from their parents Rapunzel dropped her smile and shook her head. ”You two are hopeless, you know that right?”

”Blondie, Blondie,” Eugene started as-a-matter-of-factly, ”I know you’re mad at both of us, but I feel like I have to point out that I did _not_ start this.” Eugene held his palm up and pointed at Cassandra through it, mouthing ’ _it was her_ ’, before turning the other way and pretending to look at the chandeliers. 

Cassandra rolled her eyes and leaned closer to Rapunzel, speaking in a low voice with the hint of a smile. ”Sorry about that Raps, duty called.” She turned to look at her and smirked. 

Rapunzel tried to remain stern, but gave in quickly and giggled, squeezing her eyes shut. Cassandra watched her, enjoying the way her eyes crinkled and when she tucked a loose piece of hair behind her ear. She wished she could have been the one to do that. 

”I missed this,” Rapunzel said and turned to face Cassandra, beaming, ”I missed you.” She released Eugene’s arm and reached into Cassandra’s hair, touching the flowers. ”I like these.”

Cassandra suppressed her blush and wormed her arm out of Rapunzel’s, grabbing her hand instead. She brought it down between them and squeezed it, holding her eyes with mock-hardness. ”I don’t need to remind you, they’ll be gone in the morning.” 

Rapunzel matched her with a playful stare and hummed, squeezing her hand in return. ”It’s a long way til’ morning.”

”I suppose it is.” Cassandra said. She hadn’t taken her eyes off Rapunzel yet, having momentarily forgotten where they were. The proximity, Rapunzel’s hand in hers, the compliments… there was only so much she could take before she became entranced.

Nevertheless, she managed to tear her eyes away from her face: only to lock them with Eugene’s on the other side of Rapunzel. Her smile vanished when she took in his face: it was blank and unreadable: a rare expression on him, and she realized he must have observed her.

His silence unsettled Cassandra, and she cleared her throat and turned her head forward as they reached their seats. She sat down and waited until Eugene sat on the other side of Rapunzel and couldn’t see her. Then, she blinked frequently to clear her head of any haze. Eugene was possibly one of the five worst people in the world to find out about her feelings towards Rapunzel after her dad, the king and queen and Rapunzel herself. 

Soon enough servants poured in with appetizers and champagne, filling up their plates and glasses. Cassandra eyed the glass and pursed her mouth, before looking away. It was probably best to drink as little as possible because apparently, she couldn’t even hide her emotions sober. 

It wasn’t entirely her fault though. Cassandra glanced at Rapunzel holding Eugene’s arm, stroking it and leaning over his plate, examining the dish: she was a very touchy-feely person, and Cassandra was no exception to that.

Though, ever since she arrived home last night Rapunzel had been more intrusive than she remembered her to be: she was touching her at every chance she got and Cassandra was having a harder and harder time ignoring it. 

Though in the end, she summed it up to all the factors put together simultaneously: Cassandra missed Rapunzel for four years and so, when she finally got to see her every emotion was increased tenfold. Rapunzel had missed Cassandra for four years and so, when she was finally here all that pent up longing was finally released in the shape of excessive body contact. That logic tracked. 

Cassandra decided to leave it for the time being and turned to her dad on her left, starting on her appetizer. ”So dad, what do you do now that you’re retired?” she elbowed him, ”Is there finally room for a lady in that busy schedule of yours?”

He laughed and put his fork down. ”Oh no, I think that opportunity has passed. Actually, I’m not entirely retired anymore. Fitzherbert- erm, Prince Euge-”

”Don’t,” Cassandra cut him off and raised her fork to his face, ”You had it right the first time.” 

Her dad looked at the fork and chuckled. He leaned in closer to her, ”Just between the two of us, I know I did. Anyway, Fitzherbert has put me in charge of training the new recruits, so I’m quite busy with that.”

”Dad, that’s so great! I’m so glad you’re not spending your days staring at a wall.”

”Oh come on now, I wouldn’t have done that.”

”Dad, we both know you live your life for that job, and therefore we both know I was joking when I asked if there was a woman.”

”Well, please tell me we have that last thing in common.” He said and raised a knowing eyebrow.

Cassandra choked on a shrimp and her eyes bulged as she went into a coughing-fit. She suddenly felt Rapunzel’s hand on her arm and the other on her back, rubbing it. ”Cassandra! Are you okay?” She exclaimed in alarm. 

She managed to cough up the shrimp and swallowed it properly. She glanced at Rapunzel briefly, ”I’m fine Raps,” she then turned to her dad with an incredulous stare, ”w-what do you mean you hope we have that in common?”

_He can’t possibly know, I’ve been so careful._

Her dad laid his hand on top of hers and smiled, ”Come on Cassandra, have you really not met any guy during these years on the road?”

_Oh._

Cassandra breathed out in what she hoped was concealed relief. ”A-a guy! Of course.”

He squeezed her hand and looked at her with hopeful eyes, ”Really?”

”Really??” Rapunzel echoed on her other side.

Cassandra frowned. ”What? No, no I mean I haven’t”

”Oh,” her dad released her hand and pressed his lips together, ”that’s too bad.”

Rapunzel remained silent beside her, but Cassandra felt her grip on her arm tighten slightly, even as the hand on her back dropped away. She brushed it off in favor of her dad’s disappointed tone and turned towards him. ”Why would you think that I’d found a guy?”

Her dad shrugged, ”Well, you’re turning 29 next year Cassandra, and you’ve never shown interest in any man around here, so maybe Corona was just too small. I figured when you went away to find your destiny, you’d also find someone to share it with.”

Cassandra dragged her eyes to her champagne-glass, then glanced at Rapunzel’s and her dad’s. She briefly considered downing all of them then and there: maybe then, she’d get out of this conversation or at least, she wouldn’t remember it. The responsible side of her protested though, and urged her to suffer through it. She continued through gritted teeth, ”Dad, I… don’t have time for that. And I can take care of myself, you know that.”

”I do know that,” he smiled, ”but don’t you ever feel that it would be nice to settle down somewhere with the right guy?”

”No, dad,” Cassandra shook her head and pulled an awkward, pleading face, ”that’s not… me.”

A few seconds of a thick silence passed, before her dad sighed and smiled. ”If that makes you happy, then I’m happy. I just wanted to make sure you knew what you wanted.” He patted her hand and then turned to his left where the king sat, deciding that their conversation would be over for now. 

Cassandra exhaled and closed her eyes in exhaustion: she had not seen that conversation coming. She definitely had not seen her _dad_ initiating it. Maybe her years away had softened him: that honestly scared her _more_ than if it had hardened him, because that she was used to. 

After some seconds she realized Rapunzel’s hand was still on her arm and she looked up to see what was going on, only to freeze in apprehension. Rapunzel was looking at her with a blank expression, completely and unusually quiet: almost as if she was studying her.

Cassandra frowned, ”Uh, Raps?”

Her voice seemed to snap Rapunzel out of her thoughts and she blinked slowly, her voice slightly numb when she spoke. ”Yeah?”

Cassandra laughed uncertainly. ”You kind of zoned out there for a second…”

”I did?” Rapunzel shook her head and blinked more frantically this time, regaining her focus, ”I did.” She cringed and removed her hand from Cassandra’s arm. ”Sorry Cass. Just, lost in thought I guess.”

Cassandra knitted her brows and bit her lip, worrying about Rapunzel’s sudden behavior. To her complete bewilderment, Rapunzel’s eyes fell to her lips and traced the motion: before Cassandra could react however, she’d turned and taken a large swig from her glass, grimacing slightly as she swallowed it. Then she whirled around to her again with a large smile, speaking in an eager voice, ”So! Tell me everything about your journeys.”

Cassandra blinked at the sudden change in topic. The image of Rapunzel’s eyes on her lips was still fresh and scorching in her mind, but she convinced herself that it was just a knee-jerk reaction. 

_Was it?_

Blocking out any more intrusive thoughts, Cassandra grinned in excitement. ”You won’t believe what I had to do for a ticket to England…”

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt like it was best to divide this chapter into two so you guys wouldn't have to wait as long.
> 
> Enjoy!


	6. Banquet part 2: the party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassandra sees some familiar faces, all the while digging her own grave even deeper.

”-and that’s how I realized that _damn_ Brock Thunderstrike somehow loves his hair more than Eugene.” Cassandra said and flipped her own hair for show. 

Rapunzel threw her head back and laughed, clutching Cassandra’s arm to steady herself. 

”I can’t believe all you’ve experienced, Cass! How far you’ve travelled, the things you’ve seen…” she put her chin in her hand and sighed, ”I wish I could have seen it, too.”

Cassandra smiled and looked down. ”Don’t worry Raps, you’ve avoided more than you’ve missed. In between a few good stories there were hundreds of cold, damp nights sleeping in the mud.”

Rapunzel beamed, ”But you also slept under the stars.”

Cassandra looked up and saw the longing in Rapunzel’s eyes, a somber feeling washing over her. 

Rapunzel missed her freedom. Of course she would. Six years out of her tower and she’d spent _one_ away from Corona. One. Cassandra had a hard time wrapping her head around that. 

She turned and sipped the last of her champagne, a mix of surprise and pride taking over her; not a single refill for the entire dinner. A rare occurrence. 

The scraping of chairs took her back to reality. Cassandra looked to her left, where the king and queen rose from their seats, followed by her father and then many more. She lit up and put her glass down, facing Rapunzel. 

”Enough about me now, Raps, time for you to have some fun.” 

Rapunzel removed her hand from Cassandra’s arm and turned around. The musicians had set up, ready to play. Servants were lined up along the walls, waiting for the guests to leave the tables so they could remove them. Several people were starting to flood the dance floor. 

Rapunzel turned back to her, a brilliant smile on her face. On the table stood her near empty glass, which she snagged and emptied. Her fifth one, Cassandra believed. 

”Cass, dance with me!”

”I’m sorry, what?” Cassandra stared. 

Rapunzel laid her hand on top of hers. ”Yeah, like in the contest of the crowns. We need a second chance! No flutes this time, I promise.”

Cassandra chuckled. ”Even if I wanted to Raps,” she waved her broken wrist, ”I wouldn’t be able to catch you.”

”Oh, right…” Rapunzel pouted. Half a second passed and then her face shone again, turning to Eugene and pulling on his arm. ”Eugene, what about you? Let’s dance!”

Cassandra was almost surprised to see Eugene on the other side of Rapunzel; he’d been so incredibly quiet throughout the whole evening. Frankly, she’d started to think he’d switched tables. 

He was still quiet as he eyed Rapunzel now; something definitely seemed off about him. Nevertheless, he rose from his chair and offered his hand to Rapunzel. He smiled, but Cassandra swore it didn’t reach his eyes. ”Of course, Sunshine.”

Rapunzel was oblivious to Eugene’s spirits as she bounced up and led them to the center of the floor. Cassandra frowned. The whole display was a stark contrast to their typical behavior: Eugene’s unrivaled ability to _constantly_ make noise, and Rapunzel’s uncanny understanding of people’s emotions. 

She blamed it on the alcohol. 

They started dancing the instant the music sounded and were soon joined by other couples, laughing and twirling around the increasingly louder room. Rapunzel’s intoxication came through in the way she subtly stumbled over Eugene’s feet every once in a while, but she carried it with grace and laughed it off. 

Cassandra turned and noticed she was among the last people to have left the table, and the servants were starting to have a hard time concealing their annoyance. She gave them an apologetic grin and shot up from her seat, floating towards the wall. Turning around, she started looking for her dad: only to find that once again, he was lost in the crowd. 

Cassandra groaned. _Great._

She was about to scour the room for him, but didn’t get far when she was suddenly scooped up by a pair of enormous arms from behind, knocking the wind out of her. 

”Ohh, I thought that fancy dress seemed familiar!” came a booming voice in her ear. She recognized that voice; and she could damn well yell at him. She was just about to, (and possibly kick him in the shin) when she was sandwiched by another pair of arms from the front who, luckily, narrowly avoided her wrist. 

”Cassie, I can’t believe that you’re home!” 

Cassandra blinked. She recognized that voice too. Last time she checked however, that person wasn’t supposed to be this tall. Looking down, she realized in astonishment that Varian now came up to _Lance’s_ shoulders, and that’s when she knew she’d truly been gone for a long time. 

She thrashed her head against Lance and squirmed against their hold, speaking through gritted teeth. ”I see you guys remembered I _love_ hugs… now put me down or I’ll kick you where the sun doesn’t shine. ”

The two men cleared their throats in alarm and released her immediately. She smoothed out her dress, a smile now growing on her lips as she looked at her friends. Naturally, her eyes were drawn to Varian and she breathed out a laugh. He was an adult. 

She reached out and jabbed him in the arm, ”I guess I shouldn’t call you kid anymore, now that you’re taller than me.”

Varian brushed off his shoulder with a satisfied expression, ”Oh, you noticed? Yeah,” he crossed his arms and made a show of bending down to look into her eyes, ”Varian will do just fine now, Cassie.”

Cassandra raised a brow at his smug demeanor. Smirking, she poked him in the chest and spoke in a low voice, ”Okay, now it’s still kid.”

Varian spluttered indignantly, and Cassandra laughed and turned to Lance. ”How come I’m only seeing you guys now?”

Lance put his arm around her shoulders and led them to the snack table. Seemingly, time had changed little about him. She wasn’t surprised. 

”Not all of us can sit beside the princess now, can we? We sat at one of the other tables, but don’t sweat,” Lance picked up a glass of champagne and gave one to Varian, clinking them together, ”drinks and food were all the same.”

”Oh thank God.” Cassandra put a hand over her heart. Then she remembered something Rapunzel had told her during dinner and looked around. ”Say Lance, I heard you’ve become a dad. Where are Kiera and Catalina?”

Lance clapped his hands, ”I have! Four years have passed already, frankly it’s a little hard to believe” he wiped an imaginary tear from his eye and rested an elbow on Varian’s shoulder, much to the younger man’s irritation, ”they’re not much for fancy parties like this - that and they’re only 16. I figured they’d rather stay home, but they say hi to everyone!”

”Wow,” a smile split Cassandra’s face, ”congratulations, Lance. I’m sure you make a great dad.”

”Thanks, Cassandra.” Lance said earnestly and patted her shoulder. He reached for another glass and offered it to her. 

She contemplated it. It was just one more glass, and she was far from a lightweight. Pushing the opposing voice to the back of her head, she smiled and accepted it, raising it to Lance. He waggled his eyebrows and clinked them together. 

She then turned to Varian and held up her glass, ”And to you, royal engineer. Cheers.”

Varian’s face lit up in happiness upon the recognition, and he clinked his glass with her. ”Thank you, Cassie.”

They settled against a wall and sipped their drinks, watching the dance. Despite having no trouble with solitude, Cassandra felt content to have her friends around again - being alone at a party of all places was too depressing even for her. 

The sound of Lance gulping his drink filled her ears, and was soon accompanied by Varian humming along to the music, his shoulders bouncing. Cassandra knew those sounds would drive her crazy as late as tomorrow, but right now they comforted her in a strange way. 

”So Cass, what’s finally brought you home?” Lance asked. 

The question brought Cassandra’s attention to Rapunzel, who was still dancing with Eugene. He spun her around the floor and she looked at him as if nothing else mattered. She couldn’t see Eugene’s face but she knew he looked the same. 

Cassandra knew this was how it would be, but she still felt numb when she looked at them. Somehow, her chest still throbbed. She tore her eyes away from them and mumbled, ”To tell you the truth, I’m not sure.”

Her shift in mood didn’t gone unnoticed by Varian and Lance. The awkward silence stretched out for a long time when they exchanged nervous looks, despite the cheerful music echoing through the room. Cassandra didn’t notice. 

At last, Varian cleared his throat. ”Cassandra, are you… still angry with Rapunzel?”

The question sounded all too much like an accusation in Cassandra’s head. She dragged her eyes to them and shook her head frantically. ”Wha- I… no, of course not!”

Lance frowned, ”Then why are you looking at them like that?”

Cassandra threw her hands out, ”Like what?”

”I don’t know… like they’d done something wrong.”

”No, it’s…” Cassandra huffed, ”it’s nothing. I’m not angry with her, anyway, don’t worry. And even if I was, I wouldn’t go all… deranged on her again if that’s what you think,” She shot them a glare. 

Lance and Varian winced and looked at each other, guilt swimming in their eyes. Varian turned to her and rubbed his neck. ”We know you wouldn’t, Cassie. We’re just looking out for you.”

Cassandra wrapped her arms around herself and nodded. ”Yeah. Okay.”

Silence followed her answer. Whatever it was that bothered her, Lance and Varian seemed to understand that for the moment, it would be best to leave it be. Cassandra was grateful for that. She didn’t want to hide the truth from her friends any more than she had to. It felt wrong, especially when it involved shutting her feelings off - - that’s what had gotten her into her last big mess with them. She was in no mood to repeat that, ever again. 

Across the room the song came to an end, and Rapunzel whirled around to scan the room. At last, she spotted Cassandra together with their friends. Her eyes lit up and she picked up her skirts and bounded across the floor. 

That’s when Cassandra noticed Rapunzel _still_ wasn’t wearing shoes. She couldn’t push down the fond smile that broke out on her face then, and looked down to cover it. 

”There you guys are! Why aren’t any of you dancing?” Rapunzel panted, cheeks flushed. 

Cassandra crossed her arms and locked eyes with Varian; both wearing blank faces. In unison, they turned their heads to Rapunzel and raised a brow. ”Do we look like dancers, Raps?” Cassandra deadpanned. 

”Princess, you know I do love dancing,” Lance chimed in and turned to the table, picking up a biscuit, ”but I can’t lie under the King’s roof. I love these more.”

Rapunzel shook her head. ”Well, if none of you want to dance then neither will I.” She picked up a glass from the table and went to stand by Cassandra, propping her elbow on her shoulder. 

Eugene, who had followed closely behind Rapunzel, now stood a bit further away from the group, tapping his feet on the ground. He opened and closed his mouth several times like he wanted to say something, but couldn’t seem to get the words out. 

_A rare miracle._ Cassandra didn’t think he’d ever been an easier target. She spoke, ”Fitzherbert, we already know you’ve got the mental capacity of a goldfish, no need to illustrate it.” 

Eugene’s eyes locked on her and he opened his mouth fully this time, preparing to bash out some retort. Cassandra smirked. Oh, how she’d missed this. 

When, after several seconds his mouth was still open, she grew concerned. Uncertainty grew larger in his eyes for every moment. Her smirk died away and she cocked an eyebrow, speaking again. ”Something wrong, Eugene?”

That seemed to have brought him out of his stupor, and he blinked once. 

Jabbing his thumbs behind him and pointing in no general direction, he spoke with hesitation. ”Yeah, I’m gonna go look for my dad,” he turned on his heel, but stopped and looked behind him, ”Lance?”

Without missing a beat, Lance calmly followed Eugene. Before he left, he spun towards them and raised his glass one last time, nodding. ”Ladies.” 

As they disappeared, Cassandra and Rapunzel looked to their right where Varian still stood, arms crossed and an unimpressed look on his face. 

” _Ladies”,_ he mimicked in a childish, mocking tone.

He turned to them, ”Well, as fun as these feasts are, they’re _long._ Unfortunately, I have to find dad and leave if we hope to make it home by midnight.”

He nodded at Rapunzel, ”Rapunzel, always a pleasure.”

Rapunzel whined and scooped him up in a hug. ”Aww, I hate that I didn’t see more of you, Varian! But I’ll still see you next week when you come to work on those boat engines, right?”

When she released him, Varian took a moment to suck the air back into his lungs. He then tapped his goggles (how did Cassandra miss he _still_ wore those), ”Science never sleeps, princess.”

He turned to Cassandra and smiled shyly, fidgeting with his hands. ”It was great seeing you again, Cassie. I hope you’ll stick around this time.”

Cassandra grinned and reached up to ruffle his hair. ”I missed you too, kid.”

They bid their goodbyes and Varian scurried off. When he was gone, Cassandra chuckled. ”I can’t believe he’s grown so much,” she turned to Rapunzel, ”he’s as old as you were when I last saw you.”

Rapunzel frowned and took a sip from her glass. ”And I’m as old as Eugene was when he rescued me from the tower,” she sighed, ”time is moving fast and I’m afraid I’m not keeping up.”

Cassandra cocked her head. ”What do you mean?”

Rapunzel turned to Cassandra and waved her hands. ”I mean, don’t get me wrong! I _love_ where I am now, and I’m surrounded by all these wonderful people, but… sometimes I stop and think about all that’s happened to me… and it makes me terrified,” Rapunzel’s eyes glistened now, ”it all went so _fast_ , Cass! Sometimes, I feel like I was in the tower a week ago, with Pascal. I was just… _thrust_ into this life before I could do as much as blink, and now time is passing so fast and I-I don’t know _why_ that makes me anxious, but it does. I know I shouldn’t feel this way and I’m ungrateful and-and selfish and…”

Cassandra took in Rapunzel’s increasingly more distressed state and her heart broke. This poor woman who’d never actually experienced true freedom; just vague tastes of it. She removed Rapunzel’s glass, then gripped her hands and ran her thumbs over the back of them. ”Raps, look at me.” 

Rapunzel’s eyes locked with hers, a mix of anxiety and guilt and _why_. Cassandra smiled and shook her hands. ”It’s okay to feel cramped. You are _not_ irresponsible.”

Rapunzel breathed a laugh and blinked rapidly. She squeezed Cassandra’s hands and looked down at them. Cassandra wondered if the caressing was too much, but Rapunzel didn’t seem to mind, so she continued.

”Thanks, Cass. I needed to hear that.”

Cassandra’s heart swelled with affection, and she fought to keep her emotions from her face. God, this woman meant everything. 

In an effort to lighten the mood, Cassandra’s eyes landed on Rapunzel’s empty shoulder. ”Where is Pascal, anyway? I haven’t seen him since I came back.”

When Rapunzel’s expression suddenly crumbled, Cassandra knew her effort had backfired horribly. 

”He, uh… he hasn’t been feeling his best lately, so I… I let him skip the party. He’s in my room, resting." 

Cassandra added pressure on her thumbs stroking Rapunzel’s hands, as if to remind her that she was still there. She felt like there wasn’t an appropriate answer to that response, and so she remained silent, trying to come up with something to cheer up Rapunzel with. Then it hit her. 

She tugged on her hands. ”You know, I bet there are no clouds tonight.”

Relief flooded Cassandra’s senses when Rapunzel instantly smiled; it was smaller than her usual ones, but a smile nonetheless. Cassandra pulled her towards one of the smaller doors, smiling softly. ”Come on.”

After whirling around and emptying her glass, Rapunzel followed behind Cassandra as she gently led them away from the ballroom. 

<><><><><><><><><><><>

The castle’s gardens were completely vacant in the late hour; the silence mixed with the intoxicating scent of bird cherry trees and gardenias, still in bloom. The dim moonlight painted the scene in subtle shadows, and Cassandra _loved_ it. It was like they’d stepped into another realm that brought such a sense of calm, in contrast to the colorful chaos inside. She hoped Rapunzel would enjoy the change of pace as well. 

They descended the stairs, and Cassandra led them through the flower-clad pergolas. She stopped, and pointed at the stars through the thin wooden beams. ”See? Thousands of them. Probably millions.”

Rapunzel plopped down on the marble railing that ran along the side, looking up. ”More like trillions.”

Cassandra sat beside her and chuckled. ”You’re the star-charter.”

”And you’re the one who’s spent the most nights under them.”

”Doesn’t mean I counted em’, Raps.”

”You should have. If it had been me, I would have counted them every night.”

Cassandra fell silent upon her words. The guilt from earlier rose uncomfortably in her chest, impossible to push down now that they were out here alone; but at least Rapunzel was out. Life wasn’t fair. 

She sat back and hugged herself, looking down; at the ground, her shoes, the pearls on her dress. Anywhere but the stars. ”It should have been you.”

She didn’t watch Rapunzel. She didn’t have to look to know exactly how Rapunzel was looking at her. She thought Cassandra had deserved to go, more than anything. But y _ou deserve more too._

”Cass, don’t do that to yourself.”

”I’m not doing it to myself, I don’t care where I would have ended up. It should have been _you._ ”

”And it _was_ me, remember? I’ve had my adventure, Cassandra-”

”No Raps, you haven’t,” she whipped her head towards Rapunzel, wide-eyed, ”because the world is so, so big and you haven’t even seen a _fraction_ of it. How could you possibly think your adventure was over?”

”Cassandra-”

”Raps, I can’t stand the thought of you being locked away in here when I _know_ you’d rather be out there. There’s still an infinity left to see and, and if I could just take you away from here, I could show it all to you!”

Rapunzel giggled, “I don’t doubt it.”

Cassandra laughed, ”It’d be easy, really! I’ve done it before, you know I could do it again. We’ll be out of here before anyone can blink. We can even bring Fitzherbert.”

”Your kindness knows no limits.”

Cassandra breathed hard, ”And all the painting supplies we can carry!”

”Cassandra-”

”And we’d visit every city you’ve read about in your travel guides!”

”Cassandra, listen-”

”Because Raps it is so… so _fucking_ obvious that you don’t want to be here-”

”Cassandra, language.”

“ _Why_ are you so calm??” Cassandra threw her hands out, eyes frantic, ”I’m out there and you’re in here! Doesn’t that upset you?? Do I really care more about your feelings than you do yourse-”

_“Cassandra!!”_ Cassandra stilled mid-sentence, staring into Rapunzel’s eyes, and that building panic ceased. They harbored no anger, no jealousy, no accusation. Just understanding. _No one deserves you, have I told you that._

Rapunzel placed a tender hand on her cheek, stroking her thumb along her cheekbone. ”It’s not your fault, Cass. No matter where you would have gone, I would have stayed here.”

Her reassurances wiped out Cassandra’s guilt, and yet she felt no better; because that guilt was immediately replaced with sorrow and despair. Sorrow because no matter how hard she tried to hide it, Rapunzel wasn’t as happy here as she would have been out there. Despair because Cassandra could do nothing about it. 

The kingdom needed their princess. It was Rapunzel’s duty to remain here, to take care of everyone’s needs before her own. That responsibility required her to put wishes aside. She couldn’t ever live the life she wanted to, and it broke Cassandra’s heart all over again. 

”But you know what?” Rapunzel took her hand and squeezed it, ”You’re not out there, Cassandra. Not anymore. You’re here with me. I don’t even _want_ to leave anymore. I barely remember why I ever did.”

Cassandra tried to listen to her confession without distorting it into something more, but God did Rapunzel make it hard. _The things you do to me._

She deserved everything. Everything Cassandra could never give her and she wanted to punch a wall for it; scream into her pillow until her lungs burned.

Instead, she swiftly stood and offered her good hand to Rapunzel. Luckily for Cassandra, her princess found an indescribable joy in the little things, and that she could give her. ”I believe you’ve earned this dance, princess.”

Any lingering signs of melancholy was smacked off of Rapunzel’s face and replaced with unadulterated happiness. She bounced up from the railing clapped her hands, unable to conceal her excitement. ”Really??”

Cassandra stood, hand still extended, and rolled her eyes; a futile action that was dulled by her smile. ”I still can’t guarantee I’ll catch you.”

Rapunzel took her hand and beamed. ”That’s okay, I can fall.” 

Cassandra decided that they were done talking. Instead, she pulled Rapunzel close and rested her useless hand on her shoulder blade. Rapunzel took a hold of her shoulder and stood, bouncing on her toes in anticipation. 

Cassandra stood still for just a moment longer, trying to sear this memory into her brain. Time stood still, her heart thumped, Rapunzel was stunning; and it was just the two of them. She was home. 

At last, she moved. Pulling Rapunzel along, she slowly turned them around the pergola. Lazy, small, deliberate strides. They passed pillar after pillar, Cassandra occasionally lifting Rapunzel’s arm and twirling her around it, before pulling her back closer than before. 

There was no music to set the rhythm, and in just a few minutes her rapid heartbeat could no longer set it for her. Instead, she probably messed it up, many times. She had a feeling Rapunzel didn’t care, though; no one looking _that_ entranced could possibly care. 

As Cassandra spun her in an under arm turn, Rapunzel breathed out a laugh. ”Where on Earth did you learn to dance?”

Cassandra drew her back in as they got closer to the railing and the flower-clad pillars, smirking. ”I’ll leave that to your imagination, princess. And one more thing.” in a swift motion, Cassandra spun Rapunzel so that she faced her back, and pulled her flush against her front. 

She reached out with her bad hand and plucked a flower from the pillar. Brushing Rapunzel’s hair back behind her ear, Cassandra secured it with the flower, then leaned down in her ear and whispered, ”If I have to dance and wear flowers in my hair, so do you.”

For a moment, everything stilled. Rapunzel released a shaky breath and squeezed Cassandra’s hand, drawing it closer against her stomach as if holding on to reality itself. Cassandra’s face lingered by Rapunzel’s ear, and this close she could smell the champagne and a vague scent of peppermint. Every curve of Rapunzel’s body pressed against her in all the right places, and the urge to tilt her head and kiss her neck almost overcame Cassandra; she felt hot, dizzy and _confident._ This wasn’t the real world anymore. It was fantasy, she was so sure of it. 

As if in slow motion, Rapunzel craned her neck and rested her head against Cassandra’s shoulder so that she could look at her. Her face was _inches_ away and it took all of Cassandra’s willpower to not look at her lips. 

”Unlike you, I like flowers in my hair.” Rapunzel raised a brow in an attempt to look unbothered, but her low, thick voice gave her away.

Cassandra’s lips parted involuntarily. ”I do too.”

The slow pull towards her was magnetic, inevitable, and if Cassandra wasn’t crazy she’d say Rapunzel was moving too. She could lie and say she didn’t notice their lips drifting closer and closer, but frankly in that moment she didn’t care - Rapunzel was exquisite and alluring and everything. 

Rapunzel’s breath fanned hot on her cheek and her eyes were hypnotizing. For the fiftieth time that day, something in the back of her mind registered how utterly helpless she was. Her head was reeling with all sorts of thoughts - S _top. Get away from her. This is wrong_ \- but she pushed them all away in favor of the most prominent one. 

_I have never wanted anything more than I want this_. 

Their lips were so close Cassandra could physically _feel_ their presence, and it drove her all kinds of crazy. Her bad hand had just about started traveling up her arm when- 

”Rapunzel! Sunshine, are you out here?”

The sound of Eugene’s worried voice startled them back to reality. Rapunzel all but launched Cassandra off of her, staggering back and bumping into the pillar in the process. She gasped and drew her hand up behind her back to grip it, eyes blown wide and chest heaving. Cassandra didn’t think she’d ever looked more aghast. 

She watched Rapunzel carefully, not daring to blink in case she’d scatter off like a frightened deer. Her own heart beat so wildly in her chest it dulled her head and every single limb, but she fought to push it down. 

Clearing her throat to rid any traces of thickness in her voice, Cassandra called out to Eugene, ”We’re down here, Fitzherbert.”

Some frozen seconds passed in which Eugene’s steps drew ever closer. The sound brought Cassandra back to reality more and more, and with each moment her panic increased with the speed of a wildfire.

When Rapunzel finally shifted her eyes to the floor, Cassandra looked away too. Guilt dropped in her chest like a boulder and she instinctively moved further away from Rapunzel. 

”There you guys are,” Eugene rounded the corner to the pergola and approached them in his all too casual manner and looked at Rapunzel, ”I started to think you’d gone to bed early, which you never do when there’s a party, so to say the least I was starting to worry.”

Rapunzel brought her hands in front of her and wrung them. When Cassandra chanced another glance at her, she somehow looked far less upset than she had ten seconds ago. To those who didn’t know her, she would even look normal. Unfortunately for Cassandra, Eugene knew her all too well and he frowned. 

”You okay, Sunshine?”

”Yes!” Rapunzel shot away from the pillar and answered automatically, with far too much optimism, ”Yes.”

Cassandra closed her eyes. Suddenly, the space felt too tight. The atmosphere was suffocating, her head dizzying and she was certain the universe mocked her very existence. 

”Cassandra.” Rapunzel’s careful voice cut through like a hot knife and Cassandra barely avoided flinching. ”Are _you_ okay…?”

Everything was too much. Cassandra pried her eyes open and glanced at them through the corner of her eyes. 

”I’m fine. Just peachy,” she spoke through gritted teeth, ”I’m going to bed.”

Rapunzel didn’t seem to have the energy to stop her. Or maybe she didn’t want to. Either way, Cassandra hurried away from the scene as fast as she could. 

The second she got to her room, her sparring-dummy would get the beating of his life. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got the garden's design from some background-pictures from TTS on Google, and it just looked so inviting.


	7. Closets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassandra is backed into a corner by her father.

Cassandra cried out as she kicked a training dummy extra hard, knocking it into the wall. Despite the physical exertion, she felt her heartbeat steadily slow down as she worked out her frustrations on the poor equipment. She picked up a rag and wiped her neck with it, before letting her hair out of its ponytail. Her right arm throbbed, and she rubbed it gingerly.

”You know, I’m not the Captain of The Guard anymore. If you break or ’collect’ any more equipment, I can’t vouch for you.”

Cassandra whipped her head around to see her dad standing in the doorway, a playful eyebrow raised on that smug face.

”Dad!” She blushed and let out a weak laugh, ”You ah… you knew about that, huh?”

He strolled farther into the room, making a show of inspecting the mangled dummies. ”I was the greatest captain this kingdom had seen in a hundred years. Part of that success was due to my watchful eye,” he ripped out a dagger from one of the dummies’ eyes, twirling it as he spoke.

”I knew of every single weapon in our inventory,” he rose, ”from the biggest catapult, to the smallest dagger,” he walked up to Cassandra and offered her the knife with a smirk, ”I knew very well that you ’collected stuff’ every other week.”

Cassandra grumbled and ripped the blade from his hand. ” _Damn_ it, I always thought I hid it so well,” she spat.

”Oh, you did hide it well; you’re a master of stealth, Cassandra,” her dad said and stepped around her, patting her shoulder, ”but I am your father; you can’t hide anything from me.”

Cassandra almost snorted at the irony, but bit her tongue.

Her father gave her one last smug look, before his demeanor changed. He started squirming and deliberately avoided eye-contact. It caused Cassandra’s heart to pick up in speed. Awkward behavior like that could only mean serious conversations, and she absolutely dreaded such conversations; with anyone, but _specifically_ her dad.

”I was looking for you a few days ago, but I couldn’t find you. So, naturally, I went to the princess as I assumed you’d be with her. Weirdly enough, she hadn’t seen a trace of you since the banquet - five days ago,” he stilled and fixed her with one of his classic dad-looks, ”is there anything you want to tell me, Cassandra?”

Ignoring the way her face heated under the scrutiny, Cassandra turned her head away and frowned. ”No, dad, not really. She’s just… a lot.”

This time, her dad snorted. ”Well, Princess Rapunzel has _always_ been… a lot. Yet you stayed by her side almost every day since she came home from that tower, even when you were off duty. Now you haven’t seen her in four years, and suddenly two days are too much?”

Cassandra remained silent for some time, eyes flickering from her dad to the wall, contemplating on wether or not she should speak the truth. She’d never been a particularly good liar with the people closest to her; it was like they could see through every tick, every twitch, and it made her nervous.

She knew her flickering eyes had probably already given her away, and it nearly caused her to hyperventilate with the knowledge of what was to come. This was a conversation she was neither ready nor excited for, but when all was said and done, she was _so_ tired of pretending.

She spoke up, voice shaking. ”Dad… there’s something you should know about me. Something I’ve hidden from you for 24 years, and it’s been _exhausting_ ,” she took a deep breath and forced herself to look into her dad’s worried eyes, ”but… I feel like it’s been necessary. I’m already not your biological daughter and-and I’ve done so much wrong in these past years and I… I was afraid that you couldn’t handle another disappointment.”

”Cassandra…” she furiously blinked away the wetness in her eyes so that she could see her dad’s pained expression, ”if I have ever made you feel like you had to hide away a part of yourself in case I’d _disown_ you-”

”No!” She hurried to reassure him, ”no you haven’t, it’s… it’s not you personally, dad,” she looked at the ground and bit her lip, ”… any parent would be ashamed. But I promise you, this doesn’t change anything about me! And… I’m _not_ a freak, dad.”

”Cassandra… what is it you want to tell me?”

The fear in her father’s eyes was almost enough for Cassandra to chicken out and make up some obvious lie; the only reason she didn’t was because he’d see through it. She’d dug herself into this hole when she started this damn conversation.

”I… dad, I don’t-” she cut herself off, cursing inwardly. _Why_ were the words so hard to get out? She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, not able to look at him when she said it. ”I don’t like men, dad. I like women.”

…

The silence that followed lasted for a long time. A much longer time than Cassandra was comfortable with. In the end, she couldn’t keep her eyes closed anymore.

When she opened them, she was met with a carefully put together neutral face, and her heart stuttered.

When he finally spoke, his voice was slow, steady. ”I see… and this is why you’ve been avoiding the princess.”

Cassandra released a shaky breath and mumbled, ”Yes.”

With that, her father’s facade broke, and he pinched the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut. ”Oh, Cassandra…”

She was about to stutter out an apology (for what, she wasn’t sure), but it died on her tongue and she stilled, inspecting her father’s behavior. He didn’t seem angry, or disappointed, or disgusted. Just… tired.

Cassandra tilted her head, ”…dad?”

He raised his head when she spoke, a little bit of fear now obvious in his eyes. He took a deep breath and straightened his back. Then, he abruptly turned and marched towards the door.

Panic was slowly starting to rise in her chest, and Cassandra hurriedly followed her father’s footsteps. ”Uhm… dad, what are you doing?”

”You have to leave, Cassandra.”

” _What_?” Cassandra’s eyes blew open, heart now hammering in her chest. ”Leave? Where? Why?”

”I don’t know where, _anywhere else_ , away from here. You can’t be seen around the princess again.”

”What? Dad, no, I-”

”Does anybody else know about this?”

”I- no, but-”

”Good. Do _not_ tell anybody else. I have a cousin in the east, you could probably go stay with them.”

” _Stay_ with them?! Dad I’m an _adult_ -”

”As long you’re not married you’re not an adult by law Cassandra, and since that is _apparently_ not happening I’m your guardian, which means _I_ decide where you go.”

”Dad _please_ , stop and _listen_ to me-”

Her father reached for the doorknob, jaw set. ”Cassandra, this is the last I want to hear about it-”

” _NO!_ ” Cassandra threw herself in between her dad and the door, arms thrown out across it. She fixed him with an angry, yet desperate look, glistening eyes wide and searching. ”You are _not_ sending me away like some disobedient child, _not_ as long as I can fight you about it!”

She dropped her arms in despair, chest heaving and tears threatening to spill. Her chest felt empty, and embarrassment burned under her skin. ”Dad…” she spoke up in a small voice, ”are you… ashamed of me? Angry with me? Do you h… do you hate me?”

Her father dropped his authoritative facade at those words.

Cassandra gasped in surprise as he did something he hadn’t done since she was a child; he grasped her cheeks, cradling them frantically. She did a double take when she noticed tears were staining his face.

”Cassandra, I could _never_ hate you, do you understand? Never. I am not angry with you, and I am not ashamed. Don’t you understand?” He shook her face and squeezed it a little tighter.

”I’m _afraid_. Afraid of losing you. Do you know what would happen if the king found out that you’re in love with his daughter? I can’t _stand_ the thought of you locked away, or worse,” he stroked a thumb along her cheekbone, ”you’re my _daughter_ , Cassandra, and I’ve already lost you once. I love you, and I have to _protect_ you, don’t you understand?”

Cassandra stared, mouth still agape. Slowly, she brought her hands up to her dad’s wrists, squeezing. Somehow, his panicked confession had calmed her. He didn’t hate her. He didn’t despise her. She sighed and steeled her eyes.

”Rapunzel would never allow something like that, dad. You may not have faith in her, or me. But I do. I know her better than you do and I trust her; _if_ she’d ever find out. You don’t have to worry about me, dad.”

He stared back at her, eyes just as determined as hers. But Cassandra could be the stubborn one if she had to, and she wasn’t leaving Rapunzel again. She wouldn’t let anyone send her away.

Eventually, her dad sighed and closed his eyes, hands falling away from her face.

”I’ll never stop worrying about you, Cassandra. Your safety will always be my top priority, and if I notice things start getting out of hand, I will not hesitate to act on it.”

She sighed, ”Dad, _please_ …”

”Cassandra, that is final.”

She let out a frustrated noise. ”Whatever, I…” taking a deep breath, she wrung her hands together and tried to not bite her lip, ”So you’re… okay with me then? Being… me?”

He tried to maintain a neutral face, but Cassandra didn’t miss the way his face fell slightly. Her heart sank.

”I won’t lie, it’s… not ideal, and I don’t love it,” his features softened, ”but I do love you. If this is who you are, then I’ll find a way to be okay with that.”

Cassandra looked down at the ground and fought to keep the emotions off of her face. That hollow feeling was back, albeit not as strong as before.

This was one of those rare moments when a parent’s disappointment _wasn’t_ worse than anger, and she supposed she couldn’t have expected something better.

That didn’t stop the bitter taste in her mouth, though.

Slowly, she brought her hand up her arm and held it gingerly, turning and reaching for the door handle with her good hand. Forcing herself to look her father in the eyes one more time, she somehow mustered a small smile. ”Okay then… thank you.”

He frowned and reached out, ”Cassandra…”

She opened the door and slipped out of his reach, turning away from him. ”I’ll see you around, dad.”

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Cassandra almost sprinted through the castle, desperate to reach her room. She didn’t know what she’d do when she got there; scream into her pillow, stare at the ceiling, break down… all of the above? All she knew was that she had to get away from everyone.

Voices rang through her head, but she remained silent. Numbness dulled her limbs, but she kept walking. She felt so weak and empty and she didn’t know why. Her father hadn’t disowned her. He wasn’t even angry. So why did she feel this way?

Her thoughts were interrupted when she ran into someone, almost knocking her to the ground. To her annoyance, she found that it _did_ knock that someone one to the ground. She grumbled in annoyance, but bent down to offer a hand to the fallen victim. Once she got a good look at him, however, she retracted her hand and felt her annoyance increase tenfold.

”Watch it, Fitzherbert.” She spat. Probably the last person she wanted to see in the _world_ right know, yet the universe apparently took some cruel pleasure in her misery.

She was both shocked and confused when Eugene didn’t bite at her comment; instead he just rose, silent as the grave. She noticed his eyes, aside from being uncharacteristically dull, looked tired and worn. When she focused on them, she was shocked to see that they were puffy and bloodshot. A closer look at his body told her that it wasn’t just the eyes, but _all_ of him looked tired and worn as well.

The sight made her realize that she hadn’t seen Eugene in several days as well. Her heart shot up in her throat.

”What’s wrong, Eugene? Is it Rapunzel? Where is she?” In that moment, Cassandra regretted having ignored her for five days more than she’d regretted anything in her life. What if that was the last time she’d ever get to see her?

Panic was about to seize her, and it must have been evident on her face. Eugene put a hand on her shoulder, speaking up in a reassuring, but low voice.

”No Cass, it’s not Rapunzel. It’s… it’s Pascal.”

Her heart stopped for probably the fifth time that day. Her eyes shot open and she felt sick to her stomach. 

”Is he…?”

She felt the need to ask, even though it was hardly necessary.

Eugene’s face said it all.

”He’s gone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back to myself, I hope I've had a relaxing computer break.
> 
> And yes, I did just do that. 
> 
> I'm sorry if the captain's reaction seemed a little harsh, but I just thought it wouldn't be realistic for an esteemed, lawful person to be completely accepting and unafraid in a time like 1800's Germany when his daughter comes out as gay. I feel like him being kind of accepting, but not fully would be the natural way to go.
> 
> I also realized that I'm the worst person ever and have yet to thank you all profusely for the likes and comments! They truly mean the world to me, and I make sure to read every single one! 
> 
> Hope you enjoy! I'm sorry for a shorter chapter, but I wanted to leave it on a cliffhanger, oops
> 
> Also, I'm changing the rating for the rest of the story just in case, lol


	8. Hurt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rapunzel grieves.

”He’s gone.”

The moment the words left Eugene, Cassandra was sprinting down the corridor. A powerful urge to _run_ overcame her, and even though she’d barely started she felt out of breath already. Suddenly, the importance of avoiding Rapunzel became considerably less significant.

”Cass, wait!” Eugene’s voice echoed off the walls and caused Cassandra to skid to a halt. She whirled around and saw Eugene marching towards her with deliberate strides, a determined frown etched on his face. It made irritation swell inside her uncontrollably.

”Fitzherbert, what in the _world_ do you have to say that can’t wait until-”

”I know what you want.”

Cassandra jabbed her finger at him and opened her mouth to spit out a retort. Then his words settled in she froze, mouth agape and finger stilling mid-air. Any harsh words about to slip died on her tongue.

The implication behind Eugene’s words iced her blood and like a reflex, her mind began mapping out possible escape-routes. But in a last attempt to play it off she slammed her mouth shut and rose to her full height, fixing Eugene with a glare.

”And what might that be, Fitzherbert?”

He jabbed a finger into her chest, throwing off her balance ever so slightly. ”Don’t play coy, Cass _an_ dra. _You want Rapunzel._ ”

Cassandra’s eyes blew open helplessly as Eugene uttered those dreaded words, and she immediately saw on his face that it had given her away. Eugene scowled and jabbed his finger even harder into her chest, but Cassandra barely felt it. Her body felt numb and she could feel her eyes growing distant; but Eugene’s next words still rang clear.

”Is that why you’ve come back? To try and steal her away like you stole the moonstone?”

Cassandra and Eugene constantly trash talked each other, and the next insult was always worse than the one before; but those words probably hurt Cassandra more than anything else he’d ever said.

She spoke up in a small voice, just above a whisper. ”How could you even think that…?”

Maybe it was the fact that Cassandra never let Eugene see her vulnerable side, but his eyes cleared at her words. He groaned and brought his hands up to his temples, grabbing fistfuls of hair. ”I don’t _know_ okay, I just-! I don’t have time for this,” he took a deep breath and straightened his back, ”look, I’m not sure I can trust you right now, but _Rapunzel_ needs you, so I have no choice. I have to get back to my duties as Captain so please, just… just go to her, okay?”

He turned abruptly and stalked away in the opposite direction. Cassandra startled at his sudden leave.

”Fitzherbert!”

Eugene turned and looked at Cassandra with a defeated expression. Something about him awoke Cassandra’s sympathy; she felt the need to ensure both him and herself.

”No matter how I feel about Rapunzel, her friendship comes first. And… so does yours. I hope you know that.”

Eugene looked down at the ground, silent. Then, right before he left, he looked at her from the corner of his eye. ”Yeah, we don’t choose who we love, I suppose.”

Cassandra remained rooted in place, watching Eugene leave until she was once again alone in the corridor.

She ran her hands through her hair, settled them on her neck. Throwing her head back, she bit down hard on her lip to keep herself from screaming, but it didn’t stop the frustrated tears from prickling at her eyes as today just kept getting worse.

Her father barely accepts her, an old friend has died and Rapunzel’s _husband_ knows about Cassandra’s feelings for her.

To her left, Cassandra spotted an armor lined against the wall. In order to get rid of her frustration in favor of the much more pressing issue, Cassandra cried out and rammed her fist into the armor. As it crumbled to the ground in a loud clatter, Cassandra took a deep breath and picked up running towards Rapunzel’s room, not wanting her to be alone for any longer.

Outside her door, Cassandra took a second to catch her breath and steeled herself for seeing Rapunzel again. She knew that their previous encounter was most definitely not on Rapunzel’s mind right now, but she couldn’t help but worry about what Rapunzel’s face would say when she saw her.

Would she be mad? Confused? Scared?

Carefully, Cassandra inched the door open just enough to slip in, then shut it behind her as she searched the room.

There, on the foot of the bed sat Rapunzel, more silent than ever. Her head was bent so that Cassandra only saw the back of her head; but that was enough to sense the devastating sorrow emanating from her. Cassandra’s heart clenched painfully at the sight and she ran to the bed, collapsing behind Rapunzel.

”Oh, Raps…” Cassandra’s voice was already wavering, and even now she was grateful for the comfort she felt with showing emotions when it was just her and Rapunzel.

As seconds went by and Rapunzel didn’t utter a sound, Cassandra grew more worried. She didn’t even flinch when she sat down on the bed, neither did she turn her head when she opened the door. It was as if she hadn’t registered Cassandra entering.

Cassandra carefully laid her hands on Rapunzel’s shoulders and rubbed them up and down her arms in an attempt to stir a reaction.

Eventually, to her relief, Rapunzel spoke up in the smallest voice.

”He came to the tower when I was six. I saved him from a snake. From then on, we were inseparable. He… he was my only friend. Chameleons aren’t supposed to live longer than five years, so at first I was terrified. I counted the days until I’d have to be alone again. But then we found out that my hair kept him young…”

Cassandra looked over Rapunzel’s shoulder to see that she was cradling a picture in her hands. It was a child’s painting, portraying Rapunzel and Pascal; at least Cassandra guessed it did. Before she could ask about it, Rapunzel held it up higher for her to see.

”This is the first painting I ever made of us, a few days after he arrived at the tower. I always managed to keep it hidden from Gothel. When we left the tower, it was the first thing I thought to bring.”

She dropped her hands in defeat, and the picture sailed to the ground. ”When my hair was cut, I knew it was only a matter of time. He shouldn’t have made it this long without it, I… I don’t understand how he held out for all these years,” she chuckled sadly, ”he was so strong. No one understood just how strong he was.”

Cassandra hummed in amusement. ”I never doubted that. He really stuck with you through everything.”

Rapunzel sniffed. ”He… he was _supposed_ to stick with me through even more, Cass,” then all of a sudden, she was sobbing. She turned and fixed her with eyes so sad that it took Cassandra’s breath away in the worst way possible, ”he was supposed to be there but he’s _not_. He’ll never be there again. And I just feel… I feel so _powerless_.”

Cassandra grasped Rapunzel’s cheeks, trying to stop her voice from wavering even as her throat closed in on her when she spoke.

”You’ve already done _everything_ , Raps. Look at the life he got with you! He was the luckiest creature in the _world_ to have stumbled upon you, Rapunzel. I’ve only known you for a few years, and I’d give up the rest of my _life_ if I could only relive those years over and over again,” Cassandra grazed her thumb along her cheekbone, ”that’s just the effect you have on people Raps. The way you make everyone around you feel special… people can search for someone like you for _years_ and never find them, and for Pascal to have had you by his side his entire _life_?” She placed her knuckles underneath her chin, ”you have no idea how lucky he was, Rapunzel.”

Rapunzel’s face crumbled into a sorrowful smile and she sobbed. ”I was lucky to have him too.” Then, she threw herself into Cassandra’s arms, nestling herself onto her chest.

”Thank you, Cass.”

Cassandra carefully scooted them up towards the pillows and propped them up. Then she lied down with Rapunzel tightly in her arms. She quickly discarded her boots and brought them both underneath the covers, settling her bad arm around Rapunzel. With her other hand, she stroked her hair as Rapunzel continued sobbing into her chest. Each sob broke her heart a little more, and she held on even tighter to dull it.

”You’re not alone, Raps.”

She remained silent for a long time while Rapunzel drenched her shirt; she really didn’t mind. Rapunzel could drench a hundred shirts if that’s what it took for her to feel better.

More than anything, Cassandra was grateful that Rapunzel didn’t handle this the same way she usually did and hid her emotions away. That’s something they had in common, and that’s what scared her.

Though, unlike Cassandra, Rapunzel hid her emotions to protect the people she loved. She hated worrying people. Cassandra did it because emotions made her uncomfortable and she hated feeling vulnerable. She supposed that was much worse.

Cassandra jumped when she felt nimble fingers settle on her collarbone, and she looked down to find that Rapunzel had calmed.

_How long was I lost in thought?_

Rapunzel started tracing patterns on her collarbone, and Cassandra took a deep breath to keep her heart from racing; she had a feeling that this close, Rapunzel would feel it in the blink of an eye.

Then, Rapunzel spoke in a silent voice. ”I would have wanted you in the tower with me.”

Cassandra was thrown off guard. Of all the things she could have said, that was not something she expected. She stilled her hand and tilted her head, watching Rapunzel’s profile lying still on her chest. Rapunzel was avoiding eye-contact, and it caught Cassandra’s attention even more

”What?”

”When I was stuck in the tower. I sometimes wonder, you know. If Gothel had arrived at the cabin a little earlier, she would have been able to bring you with us. She _would_ have brought you with us, I’m sure,” Rapunzel lifted her head then, looking at Cassandra through her eyelashes, ”you were the one good thing she left behind, Cass. I wish we could have met sooner.”

An image of Eugene climbing the tower’s wall on that fateful flashed through Cassandra’s head. ”Me too.”

A few seconds of silence passed between them. Rapunzel put her head back down on her chest and continued her dance along Cassandra’s collarbone.

Cassandra hesitated, but then spoke. ”…what was she like? Do you have any… happy memories of her?”

Rapunzel’s hand stilled, seemingly distant all of a sudden; as if she was back in a different time. For a second, Cassandra regretted her question. Rapunzel was hurting, and Cassandra had went and asked questions about her own mother. Some friend.

But after a moment, Rapunzel smiled fondly and Cassandra’s interest was once again piqued.

”I remember when she taught me to bake cookies. She didn’t have a lot of patience and most things she tried to teach me, I didn’t understand right away… so she got angry,” she once again started tracing her collarbone, ”but baking came easy for me. I _did_ understand it right away. The whole tower smelled of freshly baked cookies, and I ended up eating an entire tray,” Rapunzel giggled, ”my stomach hurt so much afterwards. She kissed it better.”

Cassandra was about to chime in, but to her surprise Rapunzel continued.

”I remember the first painting kit she gave me. In retrospect she probably gave it to me so that I’d stay out of her way… but in that moment, I felt so loved; like she’d actually listened to me. Just like every time we sat down in front of the fireplace, and I’d sing the healing incantation to her.”

Absentmindedly, Rapunzel brought her hand up to her own hair, only to find Cassandra’s hand nestled in it. Instead of withdrawing it, Rapunzel intertwined her hand with Cassandra’s. It shot hot tingles down her spine, and she tried with all her might to ignore it.

Instead, she brought Rapunzel’s hand with her as she stroked her hair back and forth.

Rapunzel sighed in contentment before continuing. ”I think part of me always knew why we sung that song every day; but I couldn’t bring myself to care. That was the best part of my day. I had the love of my mother; the warmth of someone else, right there. Looking back, I don’t care that she didn’t really love me. It was nice anyway.”

Cassandra tightened her hand in Rapunzel’s. She didn’t dare to say it out loud, but she hoped it would convey the words for her.

_Fuck that witch,_ I _love all of you._

As if on queue, Rapunzel untangled her hand from Cassandra’s and slid it along her arm, up to her collarbone again.

_What is with her and that damn collarbone._

Cassandra was in a blissful agony as she tried to focus on _anything_ other than those fingers. Then, Rapunzel exhaled hotly on her chest and she almost cried. 

”This is nicer.” Rapunzel mumbled in a tired voice, and Cassandra silently thanked whatever gods were present as she realized that Rapunzel was falling asleep. She remained silent, hoping that it would make Rapunzel drift away faster. 

After some torturing minutes, Rapunzel’s breaths finally became heavy and slow, and Cassandra chanced an exhale.

In the silence, she was finally able to process the situation. Rapunzel had lost her oldest friend; someone who’d been by her side constantly for 18 years. What could Cassandra even do to help her with that kind of loss?

The more she thought about it, the more Cassandra saw herself coming home as a sign; one of Rapunzel’s closest friends leaves for four years, and when she finally returns another one of her closest friends leaves for good.

Cassandra carded her fingers through Rapunzel’s hair. ”I know I came back because I need you,” she closed her eyes, then bent down and placed a careful kiss on her forehead, ”but you need me too. And I’ll be here from now on.”

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Hours later, Eugene came back from work, looking nothing short of exhausted. Cassandra had never fallen asleep, and so she was ready for when he’d return to quickly slide out of bed. As she passed him, she debated on whether or not to look at him, or if it would be calmer to just disappear.

At the last minute, she decided against it and fixed him with the kindest smile she could muster for _him_. At the very least, he deserved some reassurance for coming to Cassandra, despite his own wishes, when the person they both cared for most in the world needed it.

That did not, in _any_ way mean that she respected him, Cassandra assured herself.

Eugene’s tentative smile back gave her some semblance of hope for the future.

Hope for what exactly, she couldn’t say; but ending her chaotic day with some sort of peace was probably just what she needed.

And tomorrow, she would give Rapunzel just the day she needed too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I figured Rapunzel had some things to get off her chest.


	9. Goodnight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Listen to Leaves From The Vine and Hymn To The Sea or whatever song is the saddest and cry at the end of this chapter:)

Cassandra stood outside Rapunzel’s door, taking a steadying breath and adjusting her satchel over her shoulder. She eyed the door for several moments, unconsciously chewing on her lip and bouncing on her toes. God, she’d gone soft embarrassingly fast when she’d come home, hadn’t she?

She aggressively shook her curls back from her face and was just about to raise her fist to the door…

”Uh, what are you waiting for exactly?” Pete’s voice echoed right by her ear and Cassandra jumped. She whipped her head around and dealt the guard a death-glare that had him shrinking back so quickly that he barely moved.

”For God’s sake Pete, read the room! Can’t you see she’s conflicted, anxious and scared? She’s practically shaking in her boots!” Stan snapped and gestured to Cassandra with his halberd.

The way Cassandra’s head slowly turned resembled a particularly angry owl, and her eyes shone with a promise of pain. ”I will give you exactly one half of a second to shut up.”

Stan froze and visibly swallowed. He immediately straightened and shot his head forward in the typical guard-stance; although his eyes gave away his fear a mile away.

Cassandra hid her smirk and turned back to the door, this time knocking immediately. She heard shuffling on the other side, and resisted the urge to bounce her toes again. Then, the door opened to reveal Rapunzel, still in her nightgown and looking about as sullen as Cassandra would have expected.

”Hey Raps. Can I come in?”

Rapunzel mustered a slight turn of her lips and stepped aside for Cassandra to enter her room, ”Morning Cass.”

”It’s not morning.”

As soon as Rapunzel closed the door behind them, Cassandra marched straight to her closet and took out a green everyday-dress. She strode back to where Rapunzel was watching her in confusion and chucked the dress at her head, leaning against the wall.

”Put it on.”

Rapunzel remained unmoving with the dress draped over her face. After some seconds of silence she slowly peeled it off, revealing her frown. ”Uhm… why?”

”I’m taking you out.”

A silence stretched between them then, in which Cassandra considered her words more closely. A slight blush she refused to acknowledge spread across her face and she shook her head.

”I mean- no. I meant, you have got to get out of your room, Raps. It’s been a week since you left it.”

Rapunzel sighed and looked down. ”I don’t know, Cass. I don’t really feel like going anywhere.”

”And you probably won’t for a long time if you allow yourself to. Raps trust me, once you close yourself off like this, each step towards misery will be a little easier,” Cassandra frowned, ”and I really don’t want to see you hurting any more than you need to.”

Rapunzel’s mouth twisted bitterly. ”And what if I do need to hurt more, Cassandra?”

”You don’t,” Cassandra dropped her arms and walked up to Rapunzel, ”you need closure.” She placed her hands on her shoulders and bent down to catch her eye. ”Please, Rapunzel. Let me get you out of here.”

When she finally caught Rapunzel’s eyes, they immediately broke and watered. She removed Cassandra’s arms and turned away from her, hugging herself. ”You don’t get it, Cass. _He’s not here._ He’s supposed to be on my shoulder, but he’s not, and it’s all just so empty and-” a sob cut her sentence short, and Cassandra’s heart ached when her shoulders shook.

She stubbornly closed their distance again, looping her arm under Rapunzel’s shoulder from behind and put her chin on her other shoulder. ”I know. It’s not fair, and it’s gonna take time getting used to. But you have to start somewhere.”

This time, Rapunzel didn’t shrug her off. Cassandra waited patiently for her shoulders to stop shaking, and when they did Rapunzel slowly grabbed her hand resting on her shoulder. She squeezed it tightly, and when she spoke her voice had found new strength.

”Okay.”

Cassandra smiled into her shoulder. ”Yeah?”

”Yeah,” Rapunzel let go and turned around to face her, a small smile painting her lips, ”let’s do it.”

She rearranged her dress in her hands and walked backwards towards her panel, keeping eye-contact with Cassandra. ”Think you can help me into this with one hand?”

Cassandra felt her heart lighten along with that hopeful smile, and chuckled as she followed her. ”I’ll damn sure try, Raps.”

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

”So, what did you have in mind for the day Cass?” Rapunzel asked as they strolled through the town’s square, an apple in each of their hands.

”Eat your apple,” Cassandra took another bite of hers and eyed Rapunzel’s untouched one with a stern gaze. As she shrugged and reluctantly bit into it, Cassandra continued in a careful tone, ”well… as I said earlier, you need closure. And the best way to have closure is to say a final goodbye, so… I thought we’d have a memorial for Pascal.” She warily side-eyed Rapunzel.

Rapunzel skidded to a halt by the fountain, eyes widening as she stopped mid-chew. She carefully swallowed the apple, and Cassandra fought the urge to play with her fingers.

Giving in to temptation, she started rambling. ”I mean, he wouldn’t want you to forget about him. Of course, I know you won’t forget about him, obviously, and he knew that too, but I thought it could be nice to show our appreciation for him. I figured you guys did all sort of stuff together, so maybe we could spend the day gathering little trinkets for the memorial, and Eugene is joining us by sunset, and you can choose exactly where you’d like to have it-”

Thankfully, Rapunzel cut off her god-awful rambling with a sudden, tight hug, knocking Cassandra’s apple was out of her hand. For a second, Eugene’s upset face flashed through her mind. Then the night of Eugene’s party, causing Cassandra to stiffen. But as Rapunzel’s sniffles came through, she scolded herself.

_Her oldest friend just died. That’s the_ last _thing she’s thinking about, moron._

”Thank you.” 

Rapunzel’s voice completely stilled Cassandra’s turbulent thoughts, and she snaked her arm around her. ”Anything for you two.”

When Rapunzel released her, Cassandra opened her satchel and lifted out a plain, wooden box. She thrummed her fingers against it and pressed her lips together. ”I uh… had it made this morning. To… you know,” Cassandra cringed inwardly, ”Or just, do whatever you want with it. I figured you could paint it.”

When new tears fell from Rapunzel’s eyes, her smile couldn’t stop Cassandra’s heart from breaking for the thousandth time.

”It’s perfect,” Rapunzel took the box and put it in her turquoise bag, that Cassandra gave her all those years ago. Then she took Cassandra’s hand and pulled her towards their first destination.

Cassandra breathed a silent sigh of relief at Rapunzel’s shift in mood. This is exactly what she wanted; for Rapunzel to look back at all the memories with Pascal with happiness, not sadness. Something that deserved to be cherished and celebrated.

”So, what’s our first stop Raps?”

”I need paint! Greens and yellows and pinks and… and white!” Rapunzel counted on her free hand as they entered a store Cassandra didn’t recognize. Its door was adorned with a big, colorful sign, decorated with intricate patterns and a Corona-sun or two; Rapunzel’s design, anyone would see.

(Or maybe Cassandra just paid close attention.)

The woman behind the counter looked up as the bell chimed. Her eyes brightened and she immediately dropped the flower she was about to put in her long braid, rushing forward and embracing Rapunzel.

”Princess! It’s been a while since your last visit. I know you bought a ton of paint last time as always, but that doesn’t usually last you this long.”

Rapunzel released the woman - that Cassandra for the record did not recognize in the slightest - and giggled. ”It’s good to see you, Rita. I’m sorry it’s been so long, I’ve just had… a few hectic weeks.”

Rita shrugged and turned around to hand Rapunzel a basket. ”Hey, being the princess and all, I’m surprised you come by as much as you do. Don’t worry, you might be my most valuable customer, but this place still goes around in your absence.”

Rapunzel took the basket and started browsing the shelves with all kinds of different colors of paint. ”I’m glad to hear it.”

As Rapunzel quieted down, the unknown lady’s attention suddenly turned to Cassandra. She froze as they made eye contact, neither of them speaking. It quickly became awkward.

After another second, Cassandra tilted her head towards Rapunzel and cleared her throat. Rapunzel whipped her head around and gestured with the basket, ”Oh, right! This is my best friend, Cassandra. She’s been on the road for forever, but she’s finally home.” Rapunzel gave her a fond smile that did things to Cassandra’s poor heart, before turning around and browsing the paint.

In doing so, she failed to notice the widening of Rita’s eyes, and the way her whole body stiffened. Cassandra fought to keep from biting her lip and break eye-contact. Even though the woman seemed fairly new to the kingdom, her reaction spoke volumes. She knew exactly who Cassandra was.

_They’ll never forget._

Cassandra ignored the sinking in her chest and managed a smile that hopefully didn’t look too forced. ”You must be new to Corona.”

Unfortunately, Cassandra rarely came off as friendly. Rita’s body-language demonstrated her wariness perfectly.

”I moved here four years ago with my husband and six-year old, so I suppose I’m still a bit of a newcomer. I heard you left four years ago as well. I suppose there’s a reason we’ve never met.”

Cassandra cringed inwardly when Rita’s voice turned to steel in the last sentence. Determined to stand her ground she maintained steady eye-contact, fingers never fidgeting and smile never wavering. ”That does sound probable. Then it was nice to meet you.”

Finally, Rita was the first to break eye-contact as she looked down at the counter, pressing her lips together. Cassandra ignored the way her brain singled out the word _victory._

”You too.”

In reality, Cassandra hardly thought of the encounter as a victory. Not when she knew she was entirely to blame for Rita’s wariness.

_Some things never change._

Rapunzel seemed to have been oblivious to the tense interaction as she bounced to the counter with a bunch of cans. Cassandra smiled despite herself; Rapunzel had a tendency of retreating into her own, secluded world when she was doing… well, _any_ of her hobbies, really.

It was definitely one of her most alluring qualities; closely behind the infamous _game face_ that Cassandra love oh-so much.

”Okay, I think I have everything I need!”

Cassandra smiled and turned for the door. ”That’s great, Raps. I’ll go wait outside until you’re done.”

Rapunzel made a noise of confirmation, and Cassandra crossed the room in two long strides and went out the door. Unfortunately, it didn’t close in time for her to miss Rita’s question.

”Wasn’t that woman banished…?”

Cassandra slumped against the wall and sighed. She buried her face in her knees, but she could still feel the looks people were shooting her ever so often. People she’d known and protected her whole life. Until suddenly, she hadn’t.

Never before had she regretted something as much as she regretted taking the moonstone. First and foremost for what it did with her and Rapunzel, but also for what it did to the citizens of Corona.

She tore down buildings, hurt people and destroyed their homes. Now, it seemed like she’d never win back their trust.

She knew Rapunzel had forgiven her; that’s just who she was. But not everyone shared that ease, and _no one_ was closer with Cassandra. Continuing to live in Corona just seemed impossible. Cassandra glanced back at the door and frowned. Apparently, it was still impossible.

In that moment, Rapunzel opened the door and stepped out. Her steps seemed just a bit more uneasy, and her gaze was flickering. When she spoke, her voice was just that much too loud.

”So! Where to now?”

Cassandra considered her for a moment, deciding on wether or not to bring up what had happened.

She quickly dismissed the thought. This day was about making Rapunzel feel better. Cassandra wouldn’t ruin it by being bitter about her past mistakes. So instead, she smirked and nodded towards the carpenter.

”I seem to remember he liked chess?”

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Cassandra grunted when Fidella hit a bump in the road. She gripped her reins tighter, finding that it wasn’t as easy to ride with one hand as she’d initially thought. Nevertheless, the wind rushing through her ears and whipping at her face was just as welcome as usual, and she resisted the urge to laugh.

Beside her, Rapunzel rode on Maximus. While she’d seemed fine in town, now her eyes were glazed over again, and she was holding the reins in a much too loose grip. She gasped when suddenly, she ran over a similar bump and lost her balance.

”Raps!” Cassandra’s eyes widened.

Just as she was about to fall off, she managed to grab the reins and hoist herself up again. Maximus gave a concerned huff and slowed down the pace considerably. Rapunzel put a hand to her heart and took a deep breath as her eyes once again focussed on their surroundings.

Cassandra sighed and slowed down Fidella, guiding her to Max’s side and eyeing Rapunzel with a frown.

”Raps I know it’s hard, but you have to focus on where you’re going.”

Rapunzel let out a last shaky breath and nodded, ”Yeah.”

Cassandra’s worry flared at Rapunzel’s distant tone.

_She barely heard what I said._

She turned and looked at their surroundings. They were still a mile away from the wall, where Cassandra had intended for them to go. As she turned back to Rapunzel though, she decided it would probably be better to stop sooner rather than later.

”Hey, what do you say we settle here and eat some lunch?”

Rapunzel frowned. ”I thought you wanted to have lunch on top of the wall?”

Cassandra waved her hand. ”I probably couldn’t even climb that stupid wall with one hand anyway,” Cassandra turned Fidella towards a clearing and gestured for Rapunzel, ”come on.”

Rapunzel was silent behind her, but Maximus’ hooves gently beating behind her told Cassandra she was following nevertheless. When they entered the clearing, Cassandra hopped off clumsily and started unpacking the food from her satchel. Rapunzel meanwhile remained on Maximus, staring at the clearing.

”Wow Cass, look how beautiful it is.”

Cassandra cast a glance at Rapunzel, then at the clearing. The midday sun was shining through the canopy of trees, casting a warm glow on the grass, bushes and flowers. Some birds could be heard singing in the trees. The butterflies surrounding the air didn’t sing any songs, but they were just as beautiful to look at.

It was nothing Cassandra hadn’t seen a million times before, but when she looked back at Rapunzel’s awestruck face she held her tongue about it.

She looked down, hiding her smile. ”Yeah, it really is something.”

She took out a blanket to sit on and started shaking it open. As she tried laying it out, she realized that it was goddamn near impossible with one hand. She tried throwing it out easier and with slower movements, but the results were even worse.

Cassandra growled silently and threw it out even harder than before, but it only ended up in the same, rumpled pile.

”I swear to-”

A warm hand landed on top of hers, and Cassandra jumped. She whipped her head around and saw Rapunzel’s calm face smiling up on her, hand lightly squeezing her own.

”You need some help with this?”

Cassandra cringed and stepped away, perhaps quicker than casual called for, and laughed awkwardly. 

”I… suppose I can’t do everything with a broken wrist.”

Rapunzel quirked an eyebrow in amusement as she laid out the blanket neatly on the grass.

”I’m glad to hear you admit that so easily.”

”Eh, what’s pride anyway.”

They made quick work to spread out the food on the blanket and sat down, hungrily attacking it. Cassandra took out a piece of bread and whistled for Owl. He landed on her arm, and she broke the bread into tiny pieces and took turns feeding it to him and taking bites of it herself.

After a few minutes of silence, Rapunzel sighed in content beside her.

”This feels just like old times, doesn’t it?”

Cassandra looked around, mentally checking off her list: her and Rapunzel, escapades outside the castle to wherever the day took them, enjoying the sun and each other’s company as the minutes turned into hours…

She smiled fondly and huffed. ”I guess it does. It’s been ages since we last had a picnic.”

Rapunzel hummed. ”It has. So much has changed…”

Cassandra didn’t miss the way Rapunzel’s eyes flickered to her shoulder before going off in the distance again. Cassandra would do anything to remove that look from her eyes.

She carefully scooted closer and nudged her shoulder with Rapunzel’s.

”Hey, remember that time he got his tongue stuck on a tree branch and I had to climb up the tree to peel it off?”

Rapunzel’s surprised laugh quickly turned wild the more she remembered, and she threw her head back. ”He was swinging in the air by his tongue! Oh, I remember how he turned completely red!”

Cassandra snickered. ”He refused to look at me after that. He went into hiding in your hair for the rest of the afternoon.”

Rapunzel laughed harder, dropping her head into her hand.

”What about that time he took your example and ripped Eugene out of a picture I made him of the three of us?”

Laughter bubbled out of Cassandra and she shook her head. ”You were so upset with me.”

”Of course I was! You created a toxic trend, Cass.”

”I, for one, had never been prouder of that lizard.”

Rapunzel giggled. ”I bet you hadn’t.”

They fell into a comfortable, but melancholy silence after that. Cassandra waited patiently as Rapunzel remained with the memories for just a few more minutes. She took a bite out of an apple and tilted her head to the side, so Rapunzel wouldn’t notice her staring from the corner of her eye.

She was something else. Cassandra would gladly chuck any and every woman out of the window if she could only keep looking at Rapunzel. It’s been four years, and she hadn’t forgotten a single detail on her face, Cassandra realized.

Her eyes were almost greener than she remembered. She wasn’t ashamed to admit to herself that she’d counted Rapunzel’s freckles to fall asleep at night. Not a day would pass by when she didn’t wonder if Rapunzel ever grew her hair out.

Cassandra stole a (long) glance at Rapunzel’s shoulder-length hair and thought back to her cropped style, four years ago. She couldn’t decide which one she liked best. Probably both.

Definitely both.

Cassandra looked at Rapunzel for just a second too long, because suddenly her eyes re-focused and Cassandra turned her head so fast she risked a whiplash. She took a big bite out of her apple to conceal any redness to her cheeks. However, as Rapunzel shot to her bag and poured out her brushes, colors and the box it became clear that she hadn’t noticed her staring.

Cassandra watched as Rapunzel crawled back to her spot beside her and squirted out colors on her palette. She put the palette down on the blanket and picked up the box instead, brush poised and ready.

Cassandra tossed her eaten apple out into the woods and leaned her elbows on her knees, tilting her head towards Rapunzel.

”Have you decided how you’re gonna paint it?”

Rapunzel nodded eagerly and tapped the brush handle against the smile on her lips. ”I have. It’s gonna be perfect.”

Then she set to work, sinking into a practiced position as she dipped her brush in the paint. She brought it up to the box and started with delicate swipes across the side, creating soft curls with little leaves on the side.

Cassandra watched as the box received more color, shapes and character for each second. Rapunzel worked with a quick, practiced hand, yet each brushstroke was made with care and deliberation; more so than Cassandra remembered from before she left. The rich paint spread easily on the box, concealing the wooden color in pinks, greens and whites. It was mesmerizing.

Cassandra propped her head up on her hand and stole a glance at Rapunzel’s face.

At least it was intended to be just a glance, but then she had to do a double take.

Rapunzel wore her game-face. Brows knit with determination, mouth curled in a concentrated smile. Her eyes sparkled with dedication and were made even brighter by the afternoon sun. One gorgeous lock of hair had fallen haphazardly into her eye, but Rapunzel hardly noticed. Last but in no way not least, that _perfect_ lip was caught between her teeth in the most delicious way, and she fought to resist the draw of it.

Cassandra fucking loved that game-face.

And so, they fell into a long silence; Rapunzel watching the box and Cassandra watching her. How long exactly, she didn’t know. She’d lost track of time quickly because frankly, it had probably stopped. The only sign that life still went on around them was the birds, singing a serene song in the trees above. 

Cassandra’s eyes refused to stay put for even one second. They had to capture every inch of Rapunzel in this light and this moment, lest she might as well miss the rest of her goddamn life. To be fair, these moments with Rapunzel were the highest peak of it anyway.

She couldn’t recall the last time she’d sat this still, nor the last time she’d felt this completely and utterly _relaxed_.

This, right here. This was perfect.

So of course it was over too soon.

Cassandra suppressed a sigh when Rapunzel put down the brush and held out the box before her for examination. She squinted at it as she turned it over in her hands, carefully avoiding the painted areas. After a few seconds of scrutinizing, she smiled in approval and shoved it in front of Cassandra.

”What do you think Cass? Would he like it?”

Cassandra plucked the box from Rapunzel’s hands and turned it over in her left one. The box was filled with Rapunzel’s trademark swirls and leaves a little all over. Chess pieces, berries and lanterns were scattered randomly across the bottom and sides of the box. The lid was taken up by a picture of Rapunzel, looking lovingly at Pascal who was perched on her shoulder. Cassandra did a double take as she noticed that Rapunzel had painted her long, blonde hair instead of her current brown locks. Upon closer inspection, Rapunzel’s eyes were bigger, nose smaller and cheeks rounder as well.

It was Rapunzel and Pascal as children, she realized.

Rapunzel seemed to notice Cassandra’s curiosity. ”I want him to go back to a simpler time, I guess. When we grew up together, just the two of us,” she rubbed her shoulder and her eyes started glistening, ”I don’t know… he always seemed to miss it, and I… I always felt sort of guilty for taking that away from him.”

Rapunzel drew her knees to her chest and rested her cheek on them, gaze fastened on the box. ”When I came to Corona, I was overwhelmed by thousands of new duties and people. I think he felt like he ended up in my periphery… and maybe he sort of did.” She turned her face into her knees. ”What if he didn’t know how much I’d miss him?”

When her first sob escaped her chest, Cassandra scrunched her eyes closed in pain. She’d rather listen to nails on a chalkboard than Rapunzel crying. She’d rather listen to Eugene complain. Heck, she’d rather listen to her dad’s rejection again.

Cassandra put the box down on the blanket, hesitated, then delicately placed her hand on Rapunzel’s knee. She didn’t look up, but Cassandra started talking anyway.

”Rapunzel, if you think for even a second Pascal didn’t know how much you loved him I swear, I will myself for the rest of my life,” she moved her hand to Rapunzel’s shoulder and squeezed it, ”you know, it’s not every friend that lets you sit on their shoulder every single day for 18 years.”

A small giggle came from Rapunzel’s knees, and she turned her head to look at Cassandra through watery eyes. ”It’s not every friend that’s small enough to carry on my shoulder every single day for 18 years either.”

”Touché,” Cassandra crawled over to the other side of Rapunzel so that she could hug her to her side, ”you know, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; Pascal was the luckiest lizard to have ever lived.” She reached over and touched the box lightly with her free hand, turning her head to look at Rapunzel and shook her shoulder.

”It looks perfect, Raps.”

Rapunzel sighed and knit her eyebrows together in a tearful smile. Then she dove into Cassandra’s stomach, hugging her tightly.

”Thank you, Cass.”

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

”Cassandra, no!” Rapunzel shouted when Cassandra’s pained yelp reached her. She ran up the hill to where Cassandra was trying to dig a whole with her _useless_ fucking hand and grabbed her shoulders, shaking them. ”You can’t dig with your arm for god’s sake!”

Cassandra thumbed at her wrist and fought the embarrassed blush that fought to make its way onto her face. ”Yeah, I noticed that.” She picked up the shovel she’d dropped seconds earlier and frowned at it.

Rapunzel snorted. ”Come on Cass, the shovel doesn’t deserve that look.” She pointed to the bottom of the hill, ”Just give it to Eugene instead, we’re almost done.”

Cassandra looked towards where Eugene stood at the bottom of the hill, poorly concealing the watchful glances he kept sending her way. She sighed heavily and trudged down the hill to him. Holding out the shovel, she pressed her lips together and forced herself to look into his eyes.

Eugene said nothing. He looked at her for another second, then simply grabbed the shovel and walked past her without so much as a nod, leaving an annoyingly empty pit in her stomach.

Ever since they’d rode back to Corona to pick up Eugene, Cassandra had felt his eyes in her neck constantly. She’d barely been able to look at Rapunzel without _feeling_ the holes burning into her head. It got on her nerves more and more for each passing second.

She hated it. Of course she hated it. She hated being supervised like a child. She hated that he made talking to Rapunzel seem wrong. She hated _feeling_ wrong.

But most of all, she hated that she couldn’t blame him.

Of course he had a reason for acting the way he was. Cassandra couldn’t promise she wouldn’t be even worse in his shoes. That didn’t stop it from hurting when Eugene steps in front of Rapunzel to shield her from Cassandra’s view. It didn’t stop the shame that flooded her veins, even though she couldn’t help it more than she could help the color of her eyes. Even though his worries were (almost) completely unwarranted. As if Cassandra would ever confess to Rapunzel, let alone make a move on her.

”Okay Cass, I… I think everything’s ready now.” Rapunzel’s voice dripped with anxiety, and it brought Cassandra back to the present. She looked towards the hill where Rapunzel and Eugene stood, both watching her with different looks in their eyes.

Cassandra took a deep breath and made her way up to the top, looking around. The rock pit had long since been rid of any traces of Rapunzel’s old tower, leaving only a beautiful location hidden deep within the woods. Eugene had dug a hole right where the tower used to stand, overlooking the tall waterfall, river and lush greenery surrounding the rock pit. It really was a beautiful place with all the trauma, hurt and heartbreak out of the way, Cassandra thought bitterly.

She couldn’t remember much of the time in her tower when she’d harbored the moonstone. Rage and exhaustion constantly numbed her senses back then, making any memories she should have had fuzzy and unclear. What she does remember, but wishes she didn’t, is the battle she’d had with Rapunzel here. When she’d beat her bruised with black rocks, hung her by the hair and forced her to watch as she crushed Eugene.

As if this place hadn’t done enough to Rapunzel.

Cassandra shook her head hard to escape from that trail of thoughts. This wasn’t about her.

Despite the somber occasion, the beautiful day remained. The sun had begun to set, painting the sky in hundreds of hues: pinks, purples, oranges and yellows. The August-heat chased away the cold winds and the need for any coats. Quite the opposite, actually.

The candles Rapunzel lit around the hole added to the atmosphere, and the sky turned darker for each minute. Cassandra breathed deeply through her nose, preparing herself for what was coming. She felt cold dread wash upon her at the thought of crying in front of Eugene. Every ounce of her wanted to channel the grit she’d been raised on at the thought; it wouldn’t be especially hard. Out on the road, you didn’t fare so well if you wore your heart on your sleeve. Except maybe if you were named Rapunzel.

It just so happened that she was doing all of this for Rapunzel as well. If she had to cry and hold a speech to show her support, then she would.

_Pride be damned, Fitzherbert._

Rapunzel quietly rose from where she’d knelt in front of the candles and picked up the box. Her shaking hands matched her breathing, and she closed her eyes for a few seconds. Cassandra froze watching her, and she felt Eugene do the same.

Suddenly, everything was very quiet. Even the waterfall seemed to have subdued in favor of the somber moment. Cassandra refused to admit the tightness in her throat at the sight of Rapunzel, just barely holding it together. Then, she opened her watery eyes and let out a broken laugh.

”This feels… wrong. This feels wrong in every conceivable way, buddy. It’s wrong, and unfair a-and it’s empty. It’s empty without you, Pascal. I don’t know if it’ll ever not feel empty.” Rapunzel broke off to let out a quiet sob and catch her breath. Cassandra closed her eyes to gather herself.

”And I can’t help but think of… of all the things you’ll miss. We’ll never celebrate another birthday together, buddy. We’ve celebrated them all together,” she scrunched her eyes shut and shook her head, ”you’ll never see me become queen. We were supposed to do that together. You’ll… you’ll never meet my children, Pascal. They would have loved you.”

The last part sent a pang through Cassandra’s chest for more than one reason.

”What if they’ll have Eugene’s brown eyes, just like you? I think I’d like that. It’ll remind me of you, too.”

Rapunzel reached up and drew a streak of hair in front of her face. Her nose scrunched up. ”If I still had my hair, you’d be here. It’s… cruel to know that _she’s_ part of the reason why you’re gone… you deserved better, buddy.”

Cassandra winced at the way Rapunzel spat out her mother. But oh, if she didn’t understand it all too well.

”I guess nothing lasts forever anyway… Now, I want to remember all the things we did together, Pascal. We grew up with each other, just the two of us. It was always… just us, wasn’t it? You were there when I finally left the tower. You helped save me from her. You’ve been with me for every single day in Corona, and… boy have I needed it. Thank you for always staying by my side, buddy.”

Rapunzel looked around the rock pit, melancholy shining in her eyes. ”I know you always missed this when we left for Corona, and I am so sorry I couldn’t grant you the wish of coming back.” Rapunzel laughed humorlessly, ”This place has been many things. Her home, our home,” she glanced at Cassandra with a glint of humor in her eyes, ”other people’s home.”

Cassandra couldn’t find it in her to smile. Instead, she looked away from Rapunzel’s ever-forgiving face.

Rapunzel bent down gracefully on the ground. ”Mostly, it’s been our prison, Pascal.”

She pressed the box to her forehead and closed her eyes, a bittersweet smile making its way onto her face. For the hundredth time that day, time stood still. Cassandra jolted when she felt wetness rolling down her cheeks. She pressed her lips together and bent her head.

Finally, Rapunzel placed a long kiss on the box; right where Pascal was painted. Then she slowly put the box down in the hole.

”This place is yours now. Forever.” Rapunzel brought her hand up to her shoulder and smiled. ”Don’t worry. I’ll be saving your spot. You won’t ever be replaced, Pascal.”

Rapunzel looked back at Eugene and nodded. Cassandra chanced a glance at him too. There was no denying the tears welling down his face, either.

On Rapunzel’s cue, he knelt beside her and took out a chess piece - the chess piece Cassandra and Rapunzel had made specifically earlier today. It was a rosewood piece, glinting in the sunlight; awhite knight, sculpted to look like Maximus. On his back sat Pascal, a determined smile on his face.

Eugene placed the piece in the hole and put his hand on the box. ”Goodbye, little frog. Thanks for sharing Rapunzel with me, and not going all overprotective brother.” He sniffed. ”I’ll miss you on her shoulder, though.”

After a few moments of silence, Rapunzel turned to Cassandra with a hopeful smile.

Cassandra carefully sank down to her knees beside Rapunzel and stared at the box for a moment.

_Thank you for the joy you brought the woman I love? Thank you for the constant violation of Fitzherbert’s ear? Thank you for being a formidable chess opponent?_

Cassandra sighed and put her hand on the box.

”Thanks for taking care of them for me, Pascal. I won’t forget it.”

At last, Maximus almost reluctantly approached the hole. He bent his head down to the box and sniffed it, letting out a quiet snort. Then he closed his eyes and nudged his muzzle against it in a final goodbye. It took Cassandra’s breath away how a horse could be so loving.

With Maximus by her side, Rapunzel rose and pulled out a clay pot filled with soil from the satchel attached to him. She unfolded a moist towel, where twelve apple seeds lay resting.

Picking the seeds up in her hands, she spread them evenly in the pot and patted the soil. Then she planted the pot in the hole, a foot away from the box.

”Don’t worry buddy, no more towers.”

When she drew back, Eugene stood and picked up the shovel, Cassandra following suit.

As Eugene started refilling the hole with dirt, the box started disappearing bit by bit. Cassandra stilled when suddenly, Rapunzel’s hand slipped into hers. She eyed Eugene warily for a moment, before shaking the nonsense-feeling of apprehension away. She grabbed a hold of Rapunzel’s hand and squeezed it tightly, and they watched together as the last sight of the box disappeared under the dirt.

When the hole was refilled, Rapunzel looked at the sky. Cassandra followed her gaze, and found that darkness was steadily replacing the previously vivid colors painting it. Cassandra eyed Rapunzel, and felt the relief flood her at the sight of Rapunzel’s smile.

_She’s gonna be okay._

At last, Rapunzel fished out the final item from Max’s satchel; a lantern.

Rapunzel took her time unfolding and lighting it, savoring every last moment of her final goodbye. When it was lit, she held it securely in her hands and looked back and forth between Eugene and Cassandra, holding out the lantern to them.

When Eugene turned to Cassandra and smiled, it was the first (and only) time it would settle her stomach. They walked over to Rapunzel and took a hold of the lantern. For a few moments, they stood like that, waiting. Looking at the lantern, then each other, then back to the lantern.

When the last of the sun set over the walls, they slowly released the lantern into the sky.

Rapunzel held on for as long as she could. She followed the lantern on her tip-toes when she became too short to stand, then her fingertips when she could no longer reach. When the lantern slipped out of her last fingertip, Rapunzel’s last tear slipped out of her eyes.

”Goodnight, Pascal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can explain:)
> 
> Okay,I don't really have a valid excuse for being absent for so long, only that I've had a famously challenging semester in university, and so I promised myself from the beginning to really focus on that. 
> 
> As an apology, I've made some art for this chapter, and it's a bit longer too! I know it doesn't make up for it, but I'm a briber by heart. If you like the art let me know, because I might do some more in future! 
> 
> Also I've rewatched a lot of the show for this fanfic, especially Pascal's Story for this chapter - I kinda hate myself now. 
> 
> A side-note: I might go back and edit some of my old chapters, since I'm not really satisfied with them. I won't change any major plot points of course, just tidy up the writing! When this fic is done, you can probably go back and read a more thorough version of it:)
> 
> Once again, a BIG thank you for all the kudos and comments! They really mean a lot. 
> 
> Until next time Blackrockers!


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